A Baker's Dozen
by fatcatjack9000
Summary: The Baker kids go to the lake for the first time. Will romances pop up? True love never fades… EliotxSarah. Review!
1. Family Meeting

A Baker's Dozen

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Cheaper By The Dozen. I do, however, own any new characters that were not in the movie(s).

**Summary: **The Baker kids go to the lake. Will romances pop up? True love never fades…

**A/N-** This is basically a story of the kids going to the lake. It's the first time they've been to the lake, but with a little twist. There will be some bits and pieces from the movie, some added in. In this, Sarah and Jake are twins. Enjoy and review!!!

"Kids! Family meeting!" yelled Tom. He heard a chorus of groans and lazy footsteps down the stairs.

"Dad, right now? I was touching up my make up!"

"Have you seen my frog?"

"Who left their skateboard on the stairs?"

"Stop being such a baby!  
"Nigel, Kyle, don't you DARE touch me with those hands!"

"I found your frog! It was in my clarinet!"

"SIT DOWN!"

The whole room went quite. Tom took a deep breath and paced around the room. He nodded towards Kate to get his flip board (A/N- You know, one of those things on a stand with papers you can draw on?)

"As you all know, it's the summer. So, we're going on vacation--- as a family! And there is nothing you can do about it," started Tom.

"But Jake was gonna show me the new skate park!" cried Sarah.

"And we were going to study in the library! We even got a special card to get more books!" yelled Kim and Jessica.

"And John offered to help me with clarinet!" yelled Henry, obviously bummed out.

"You can do all those things when we get back! We're only staying for a couple weeks. Four at the most," said Tom, hoping they wouldn't object. Someone was knocking on the door.

"CHARLIE!" yelled the kids. Most of them hadn't seen him a couple months.

"What's up?" Charlie asked. He hated missing out on family meetings, no matter how long and tiring they were. Jake quickly filled him in.

"I'm in! I haven't been to the lake in forever. It'd be nice to get away from all the city life too," said Charlie, already very excited, "Come on, you guys! It'll be fun. We can go swimming and fishing…" he said, hoping this would sweeten the deal.

"Water skiing?" asked Sarah.

"Only everyday," said Charlie, as if this was no big deal.

"Yes!" cried Sarah and Jake, high fiving each other, "We're in," they said.

"So, how bout it guys? Mark and Mike, you can go looking at all the forest stuff, Charlie's gonna swim, Kim and Jessica, you can research the lake, we've got some good books up there, Kyle and Nigel can go fishing… So how bout it?" said Tom.

"Yeah!" they all yelled.

"Wait!" yelled Henry.

"What?" asked Tom. They had just agreed! Why oh why did they need someone to slow this down?

"Lorraine has to come," said Henry.

"Oh crap," said Sarah.

"Come on Lorraine!" said Nigel and Kyle.

"No! It's gross and icky," said Lorraine into her phone, "Besides. I've got to repaint my apartment!" she said.

"We'll do it!" yelled Sarah, Jake, Charlie and Henry.

"You sure?" Lorraine asked suspiciously.

"Yup. Whatever makes you come!" said Charlie.

"Deal. You paint it and I'll come," said Lorraine, "Oops, gotta go. I'm late for a pedicure. Bye you guys!"

"Bye!!!" they yelled.

"And with that we make a Baker's dozen!!!" yelled Tom.

"Wait, how?" asked Kim.

"Yeah, a baker's dozen is 13!" said Jessica.

"We're bringing Gunner," said Tom.

"Works for me," shrugged Jessica and Kim.

A/N- Tada! Read and review. I'm thinking about putting this in the SarahxEliot direction, so I need some other 'romances' for the other characters.


	2. IT'S NOT ABOUT A GUY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen. I do own my own creations, such as new characters.

"Jake? Where'd you put my board?" yelled Sarah. Jake was downstairs eating breakfast, and Sarah had been packing all morning.

"In the closet, I think. Under the laundry basket!" he yelled back. Sarah looked underneath the basket and found her skateboard. She heard Jake stomping up the stairs.

"Jake, have you even started packing yet?" asked Sarah, trying to close her suitcase.

"Yeah, I'm nearly finished. We're going for a couple weeks, so I have a lot of clothes," he replied.

"I'll give you ten buck you have less than Lorraine," said Sarah.

"I'd like to keep my ten bucks, thank you. I doubt together we'd have as much as Lorraine does!" said Jake. He was digging through his drawers to find some shirts.

"How much stuff did you pack?" he asked Sarah.

"I packed about 10 t-shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, a bunch of shorts, underwear, a couple zip up hoodies and my big 'Tear It Up' sweatshirt, a couple nice shirts and some pants and I packed some hats as well. You?"

"Yeah, about the same. How much underwear?" he asked.

"Jake!!!" she yelled. She threw him some balled up socks and said, "Pack these, you'll need them. Mom said the neighbors have a skate ramp,"

"Cool. So how much underwear again?" he asked with a grin.

"I don't know! Just enough to get you through a week," she said. _Wait, why do I even have to answer that? Eurgh…_ Sarah went down to get some breakfast.

She saw 13 neatly packed and ready to go suitcases on the floor. They all had their straps locked around them and nothing was hanging out.

"Mom! I thought you said we could only have one suitcase each!" cried Sarah.

"I did!" Kate yelled back.

"Then why is half of this stuff Lorraine's?" asked Sarah.

"It isn't; she's just letting the other borrow her luggage. It's easier then cleaning all the stuff we have now," said Kate. _Wow, Lorraine's being… generous? Yikes, I never thought I'd see the day, _thought Sarah.

"So are you and Jake ready?" Kate asked, walking down the stairs.

"Yeah, I just have to find my sun glasses and baseball hat," Sarah began. She noticed the shades and cap in her mother's hands, "Which you seem to be holding. You are a wonderful person, mother…" said Sarah. She grabbed her things and ran upstairs to finish packing. She bounced into her room and began adding the new items to her suitcase.

"Did you get the underwear problem sorted?" asked Sarah with a giggle.

"Yeah, I did. What was that?" he asked, as Sarah grabbed something and shoved it in her case quickly.

"Nothing!" she said and went on packing.

"No, it was definetly something," he said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"No it wasn't. I'm going to go get my toiletries," she said. She walked off to the bathroom.

"PERFUME?!?!?!?!" yelled Jake.

"JAKE YOU ASS!!!" yelled Sarah. She hit him with a tube of toothpaste.

"Well?" he asked with a smirk, rubbing his side where the toothpaste hit.

"Well what?" she glared back.

"Saraaaah!" he whined.

"What?" she said loudly.

"Why perfume? Why not girly shoes or something?" he asked, plopping down on his bed, holding his head in exasperation.

"Because! I like it. It's one girly thing, ok? Get over it," she said, heading back into the bathroom.

"Are you sure it isn't because of some guy?" he asked. She stopped with her foot in mid air and turned to look at him.

"No! Why does everyone think it's always about some guy? I can't stand it! Everyone saying I need a boyfriend, everyone telling me I need someone to like me, or to like someone, I just can't take it! It's not about a guy. I don't even know any guys that would even like me, okay? Any boy I've ever even liked thought I was just one of the guys! So stop thinking it's about a guy. I thought at least you would be able to understand that, Jake," she said with a look of pure sadness on her face.

With that, she turned again and headed into the bathroom. Jake sighed and put his face to the pillow. He heard soft sobbing coming from the bathroom.


	3. Arriving and Meeting Eliot

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen.

**A/N: **I'm skipping the car ride because quite frankly, it'll just be like any other car ride with a bunch of people in it.

"Sarah, come out. We're leaving in 15 minutes and dad wants us upstairs and waiting by then," said Jake. Sarah had been in the bathroom for and hour and hadn't come out since the perfume incident.

"Fine. Go away and I will," she argued. She heard Jake shuffling away and she wiped her eyes. She redid her braids and took off her hoodie. It was too warm for it anyways.

She looked in the mirror and approved her clothing. A lime green wife-beater with a bright blue spaghetti strap underneath and some green camouflage board shorts were her pick today. She was wearing her swimsuit on underneath it all because she knew she's get the chance to swim, and this way she could save time. She had her hair in braids and a dark blue headband on. Her shoes were black with blue lining converse. _Perfect, _she thought as she applied chapstick (A/N-Chapstick is not makeup!).

She ran down the stairs to find everyone sitting, waiting for Tom. Kate was ready and holding Nigel and Kyle's hands. Jake was leaning against the wall with his skateboard propped next to them. Lorraine was putting yet another layer of lip gloss using her compact. Charlie was making funny faces to the youngest set of twins, and they were laughing back at him. The suitcases were packed and the straps put around them. The straps contained the names of the owners. Tom walked into the room.

"OKAY! We've gotten this far. Now I'm assigning cars and who's going in them. I make no exceptions for anyone. Lorraine, Henry, Mark and Mike are going in Charlie's car. The rest of you are coming with me and your mom," said Tom, checking his list off, "And Bud and Nora will be joining us a couple days after we arrive. Got it?" (**A/N- So I don't confuse you--- Charlie's car consists of Lorraine, Henry, Mark, Mike and Charlie, and Tom's car consists of Sarah, Jake, Jessica, Kim, Nigel, Kyle and Kate.)**

"Round 'em up and head for your cars, people!" The Baker's all grabbed their bags and headed for the open road.

_As they pull up to the lake…_

"WOW!" said Sarah. As soon as the car stopped, she ran and got her bag out. She knew that in a family of twelve, you had to act fast to get a room that didn't smell. All of her siblings hopped out very soon after and repeated the exercise. She heard Jake yelling her name looking for her.

"In here!" she yelled pack, putting away some shorts. Within five minutes she had nearly put away all her clothes. See, Sarah didn't pack to make it look nice of fit—she packed so she could put it away and go on to the next thing. And right now, that was looking at the lake.

"Oh, cool, you're nearly done. I'm going finish unpacking, but mom says you can go down to the lake on your own now. I asked her for you," he said. He began pulling things out of his suitcase.

"We're twins, and it's wonderful because we know what the other is thinking," Sarah sighed happily, "I'll be back in a while. If I'm disappear, send out a search party. I might have been eaten by a bear," she said.

_With Sarah at the lakeside_

Sarah hummed happily to herself. This is going to be a fun vacation. A nice lake, and water skiing, rafting, kayaking, swimming and hiking were all on her things to do list. She sighed to herself. Since when did anyone ever let her go anywhere alone? Didn't matter out here. Just her, the lake, the birds—

"Hey! Over here!" someone yelled. Sarah immediately sprang into help mode and ran to see what the problem was. She ran past a fence to find a little jetty (A/N- For those of you who don't know, that's a little dock sort thing.). A boy about her age was standing on the dock and pointing to a kayak a ways out on the lake. She looked closer and realized there was a little boy in it and she ran to the end of the dock.

"Is he stuck?" she asked quickly.

"Yeah, his paddle's here. He doesn't even have a life jacket on!" he yelled. Sarah quickly pulled of her shirt and dived in. She swam out quickly just as the little boy toppled into the water after losing balance in his small boat. She swiftly threw him back into the boat.

"Hold on, kid. I'm gonna get you back to the dock," she said. He nodded while holding the sides of the kayak very tightly. Sarah hauled him back to the dock. The older boy pulled the younger out of the kayak and got him up on the dock.

"Thank you! He was just sitting there. I guess it was you I heard walking along, so I turned to look. Next thing I knew, he was all the way out there," said the boy as Sarah wringed out her hair. She shook and water splashed him.

"Oi! I don't need to get wet!" he said with a grin.

"I noticed. If you did, you would've gotten him yourself," Sarah replied dryly.

"I'm Sarah Baker," she said, "My family and I are staying in the house of there," she pointed towards the Baker house, "There's a lot of us. 12 actually," she said with a nervous giggle. With most people, this was the time where they'd 'suddenly' remember a doctor's appointment or something baking in the oven. Sarah pulled her shirt back on. The boy grinned.

"Eliot Murtaugh, and there's eight of us," he said, "And this little rock is Kenneth. Kenneth, do you have anything to say to Sarah?" he asked sweetly.

"Yup!" he said.

"Well??" asked Eliot. His patience was growing weaker.

"I wanted to say thank you for saving me and that Eliot likes you!" he replied, running off into the forest. Eliot's checks grew red fast and he looked down. Sarah grinned.

"Awkward… I hate siblings!" yelled Eliot, running a hand through his spiked hair.

"Wanna go swimming?" Sarah asked.

"Race you down to dive off the dock!" he replied.

"You're on. Go!" Sarah yelled as she began to run. She took advantage of the half second start before him and shot off towards the end, pulling her shirt off as she went. She dove into the water gracefully and swam around to the abandoned kayak. She grabbed the paddle of the dock and began swiftly pulling herself through the water. Her upper arm strength came in handy as she found it was quite hard to paddle. After all, she had only seen it done in movies! Eliot admired her from in the water. _She must be an expert! She's so good at it. Even Anne can't do it quite that fast, _he thought.

Sarah paddled out to a boat buoy and tied up the kayak. She dove into the water and swan back quickly.

"Your turn. You go get it!" she yelled, splashing water on him.


	4. Questions and Answers Part 1

**Disclaimer: **I do no own Cheaper by the Dozen. If I did, I would have made a third movie with Alyson Stoner, Taylor Lautner and the Sprouse twins!!!

**Questions and Answers, Part 1**

Sarah and Eliot hung out most of the rest of the day together. Little did she know that her whole family had seen her rescue the little boy from the kayak. Sarah jumped on the front of the kayak and Eliot paddled them out to a little gazebo in the woods. They jumped off and tied it up.

"Wow, it's so pretty here," she said, looking up at the tall trees and the quite lake.

"Yeah, it is. I've been coming here since I was three, and this is the only place to go without people bugging you," he replied. Sarah was looking up at the now-setting sun.

"Think we should get home?" she asked him as she got into the kayak.

"Probably. My dad will be waiting for me soon," he said.

"What's your dad's name?" she asked.

"Jimmy," said Eliot. Sarah gasped and fell out of the kayak.

"Jimmy Murtaugh?? My dad speaks… how should I put it…" said Sarah, wiping her eyes and getting back in the boat.

"Ahh, I get it! Your dad is Tom Baker then. Ha," said Eliot.

"What's funny?" she asked.

"They've hated each other since high school. Something about my dad always having the girls or something--- no offence!" Eliot said with all sincerity. _Damn it, Murtaugh, your words aren't coming out right! Since when have I ever stumbled or stuttered in front of a girl… _he thought. Eliot pulled the up to the dock, tied it an helped Sarah out. The began walking down the trail towards her house. Sarah laughed at his choice of words.

"It's no problem. That's basically all my dad says when we talk about it," she replied. Eliot stopped walking and looked at her.

"Do you maybe umm… want to go see a movie, uh, with me? On Saturday?" he asked. _Smooth, Murtaugh. She'll think you're in idiot. _Sarah looked surprised.

"Yes! I mean, yeah, I just, um, have to ask my dad. He'll probably say yes," she said. She walked up to her porch.

"I gotta go. I'll see you around then? Maybe tomorrow morning or something?" he asked.

"Yeah, Jake and I were gonna ask dad if we could water ski or something. You could wait on the dock for us," she said.

"Sure, I was gonna fish with Kenneth anyways. See you tomorrow!" he said, waving and walking off happily.

_Upstairs in Jake and Sarah's Room_

Sarah closed the door and sighed happily. She went up to her room to find Jake sitting reading a magazine.

"I thought said you were gonna come down to the jetty," she said to Jake. Jake looked up at Sarah.

"Yeah, I was, but then I got tired I guess. And you were hanging out with that guy, too. What's his name?" asked Jake, digging for details, knowing his twin was going to tell him. She knew perfectly well what he was up to, even if he didn't know it himself.

"Eliot Murtaugh. You remember Jimmy Murtaugh, the one in high school that dad always talks about? That's his son. He's 14," she said, hiding her happiness.

"Cool. I saw you get that kid, too," he said.

"Oh, Kenneth? Yeah, Eliot turned away and next thing he knew Kenneth was floating in the middle of the lake without a paddle. Why Eliot didn't get him himself—you were looking at what I was doing????" she asked curiosly.

"Uh, ermmm… uh… no?" he said.

"Jake…"

"Fine! I was. I saw you running down the dock when I was eating lunch. I went out on the deck to see what was happening. I thought something was really wrong!" he lied. Jake knew that he was looking because he was jealous. _I thought she wasn't into liking guys right now. And why didn't she wait for me before going off with him? She must have just forgotten about me… _he thought sadly.

"Whatever, Jake. I have to go ask dad if I can go---," she stopped herself. She didn't need any more teasing that was going to come her way, "If I can go over to the gazebo across the lake," she lied. She was a bit annoyed that Jake had been spying on her, but happy that she was with Eliot nonetheless.

_Downstairs with Tom and the rest of the gang_

"So, this chart is your life! You WILL live by it for the next week and we WILL win!" he said enthusiastically. All the kids groaned.

"Not the Labor Day Cup again!" cried Charlie. He had been through it 2 times before, and they were all rough.

"Come on, it'll be fun guys!" said Tom.

"Dad, that's what you say every time we've ever done it," Henry pointed out.

"Yeah, but this time will be different. We'll beat the Smiths, the Burnells, the Murtaugh and everyone else!!!" Tom yelled. Everyone other than him in the room were thinking the same thing: 'He's beyond insanity, he's gone past a place he can't return!'

"Why do you make such a big deal out of it anyways????" asked Kate, seeing her children's reaction to this.

"Because every year the Murtaugh's beat us by a smidgen more! I want to beat them this year. We will have to have ground rules," he started. Lorraine interrupted.

"Okay, but can I just get one thing straight? I do plan on living to see the end of this vacation, so underneath the list of things we can do, put 'breathe' okay? Thanks," she said. Everyone laughed at her snide comment. Tom looked at her seriously.

"Well, if everyone feels that way, I might not be able to fill that request," he said. The children looked at him horrorstruck.

"So! Ground rule number one: You will practice with me and your teammates when I say so. Rule number two: You will get up at 7:30am every morning. You will shower and be ready to train by 8. Rule number three: You will do what I say, when I say. Rule number four: You will be home in time for dinner. Rule number five: Try and have some fun!" he said cheerfully. All the kids rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, cuz having fun is gonna be so easy since you've left us so rule free this trip, dad," said Charlie sarcastically. He enjoyed the lake, but not when his dad went crazy like this about the Labor Day Cup. And anyways, he wanted to catch up with some old friends.

"And break!" Tom said, as if ending a football huddle.

"Yeah, yeah,"

"Sure thing,"

"This'll be fun,"

"Wonderful…" were his sarcastic responses. Kate looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Tom, don't you think you're going a bit overboard?" she asked him.

"No! This year we're going to win!" he cried. Kate sighed and went into the kitchen. Sarah 'walked' down the stairs (A/N- She had been sitting there the whole time, remember!) and followed her mother into the kitchen.

"Uh, mom?" she asked uneasily.


	5. Questions and Answers Part 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen.

**Questions and Answers- Part 2**

Kate was in the kitchen beginning to peel potatoes. She turned around after hearing Sarah's voice.

"Yes, honey?" she asked nicely. Sarah was a very independent child, and even though she did have a twin, she liked doing things on her own. And after all, it wasn't everyday that one of Kate's children came asking for something in their 'I need advice' voice.

"What if, say, a girl, we'll call her Emily, liked a guy, and we'll call him Ben, and Ben asked Emily out? What would Emily's mother say?" she asked shyly.

"She would say its fine for you and Eliot to go out," said her mother, with a glint in her eye that was usually hidden.

"Mom! I---I said s-she was named Emily!" said Sarah, trying to hide her blush.

"It's okay with me. But you'll have to check with your father," warned Kate. Sarah stopped trying to hide her red cheeks and gaped at her mother in shock.

"And I came to the easy parent…" said Sarah. She looked at her mother once again before leaving the room. Sarah turned around, sighed, and went to look for her father.

_Outside with Tom, Nigel, Kyle, Mike, Mark, Kim and Jessica_

"Nicely done, Jessica! Now you understand how to do the egg toss, right? Show your sister!" Tom yelled to his second youngest set of twins.

"Yes father, I understand it now. It's basic physics," she replied. She finished explaining her theories on it and began tossing the egg to Kim. Kim caught it and threw it back in a perfect arch.

"SCIENCE RULES!" the twins yelled. Once again, they had dominated Tom with their wit.

"Okay, well here, let's try this. You guys against me," said Tom. They got together in a triangle. It went clockwise—Kim, Jessica and then Tom. Kim started with the egg. She tossed it and Jessica caught it easily. Jessica threw it swiftly to Tom who caught it, not so easily. He proceeded to catch it, but getting it back up with another problem.

"Okay now, don't blame me if I'm a bit rusty…" he muttered. He took a deep breath and then tossed the egg. Kim had to run about 8 feet and then still didn't catch it.

"It's okay dad, try again," she called. Tom dashed to the egg box and grabbed another. He tried again. This egg, though, took a different course. It proceeded to stick to his hand until it was right above his head. The egg went up, and before Tom could tell he had throw it straight up, it well, did what gravity does best. Bring things down.

Tom's head was covered in egg. He wiped the drips from his eyes.

"Girls, how about you two take a minute to practice by yourselves, alright?" he asked. The girls tried to hide their hysterics by nodding and turning around. They promptly cracked up. _Kids, _thought Tom, _what are you gonna do about 'em? _

"Nicely done, girls. Oh, Nigel, Kyle- you can go practice your archery now," he said. The twins high-fived and ran off.

"But can I have your attention please!" yelled Tom. His 'boot camp' stopped and looked at him.

"What are we gonna do?" he screamed.

"BEAT THE MURTAUGH'S!!!!" they all yelled back.

"HOW ARE WE GONNA DO IT????" he yelled.

"WIN!!!!" they responded. He nodded happily to them and they went on as they were.

"Dad?" Sarah asked. He turned around and had menace in his eyes. The look of want, need and greed. Sarah's dad had turned into a fighting beast.

"Where's Jake? Why isn't he with you? You two are our golden ticket. If you guys fail the skating, we can't make it to Kim and Jessica's egg toss," he said.

"Dad, I have a question. I want you to think about the answer before you say it, alright?" she asked.

"Okay, what is it?" he asked her back.

"CanIgotothemovieswithEliot?" she asked quickly.

"Eliot who?" her dad replied, his eyebrows raised.

"I don't know his last name why would I know that that's not a think you ask someone when you meet them!" she replied quickly.

"Sarah…" he sighed, "Fine. I guess you can go. Talk to your mother about the rest of it, okay?"

"Thank you daddy!" she said, running back upstairs. She flopped down on her bed. _I can't wait for Saturday…_

_In Jake and Sarah's Bedroom Talking_

**Time change—Saturday, about 4:30pm**

"So have you explored the lake yet Jake?" Sarah asked as she looked through her closet. It was filled with all of Lorraine's old good clothes, like skirts and nice tops. Sarah was searching for something to wear for tonight.

"Yeah, it was really cool. Mark kayaked and I swam alongside it. We went over and found this old campsite sort of thing with a tree-house," Jake replied.

"Uh huh…" Sarah responded, not paying attention. It was only her, her mom and her dad who knew about her date tonight.

"Ah ha!" cried Sarah, as she picked up a knee-length dark blue skirt. She pick up the light blue shirt and brown shawl she found earlier, "Perfect!" she called.

"What's perfect?" asked Jake.

"Nothing! Nothing at all," Sarah said happily as she slammed the doors to her closet. Jake walked over.

"No, you were doing something," he said.

"No I wasn't," she responded.

"Sarah, stop with the secrets! Whatever it is it's no big deal. And anyways, we're twins! You can tell me anything," he said. The look on his face confused Sarah. _Is that… hurt? No, it can't be, _she thought. Maybe he was mad for her not telling him first.

"Fine. Close the door," she said. Sarah ran over to her bed and sat in the corner with her knees pulled up. Jake came and sat down on her bed.

"So, what's been bothering you?" he asked.

"First you have to promise not to be mad," she warned. He nodded and she continued.

"Well, you know how I was hanging out with Eliot the other day? He… he, he asked me out to the movies…" mumbled Sarah. Jake had a shocked look on his face then wiped it off.

"Sarah, as much as I hate to say this, I'm proud of you. Unlike Lorraine, you waited until you were 13 to go out with a guy. But I'm probably giving the same speech as dad," he said. Sarah was relieved he wasn't mad.

"But I'm not finished. Dad asked what Eliot's last name was. I know he's a Murtaugh, but I didn't tell dad. I don't think he'll let me go if he knew," said Sarah. Jake saw the spark in her eyes he didn't usually see so he looked at her.

"Then don't tell him," he said.

"But I'll feel guilty," she replied.

"But then you get to go,"

"I guess you're right," she said. So that was it, she was going. She had one more thing to ask Jake.

"Jake… this is a bit weird, but what do you think of these clothes?" she asked, holding out the skirt and top combination she made earlier. Jake looked at it and smiled. He went into the closet and got a brown paper bag.

"Sarah, I meant to give this to you for our birthday, but I left it here last summer (A/N- Let's pretend they came last summer, but they didn't know the Murtaugh's as friends—only as competitors) and forgot to bring it back. I think you're going to like it," he said. He pulled out a small blue box and handed it to her. She looked at him funny, as if so say 'I'm not a big jewelry person' but took it anyways. She opened it and gasped.

Inside on a silver chain were 12 little metallic flowers with gems in the middle. It would go perfectly with her outfit for tonight.

"Jake! I-iii-I don't know what to say, wow, um… How did you pay for this?" she asked him.

"Mom and dad pitched in. They really, really liked it, too. I know you aren't a big jewelry person, but I saw this and I thought I would give it to you," he said, "I knew that sometime you were gonna end up going out with a guy so I decided it was time for you to look decent,"

"Cool! I really like it, Jake. In other news, have you found any other people around the lake?" she asked him. He immediately began blushing, "I'll take that as a girl then?" Sarah added with a smile.

"You could say that. Her name is Charlotte, and she's really cool. She reminds me of you a lot, if that's even possible. She loves skateboarding and biking and being outdoors," he said. His smile showed that he liked her a bit more than a friend. Sarah could read his face.

"So go for it, Jake! I'm sure she's really nice," said Sarah. She gasped as she thought, "Why don't you have her over tomorrow morning? Eliot and I were going to hang out at the dock, you know, swim and stuff, and you could bring her! It's perfect!" she yelled. Jake nodded.

"I'll go over tomorrow morning before you and Eliot get to the dock and see if she wants to come," said Jake excitedly.

"Cool. I'm gonna go help mom with dinner now, adios muchacha," said Sarah, and with a wake of her hand she was gone.


	6. Pizza and Kisses

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen. I also do not own 'John Tucker Must Die'; I just really like that movie.

"Mom, Eliot's here. His brother Calvin is driving up, and he'll pick us back up after we call him when the movie's done, ok?" asked Sarah. In Kate's eyes she was a good child—she was very straightforward.

"Sure thing. Here's $30, don't spend it all in one go," she warned. She got down right to Sarah's height and whispered in her ear, "A real gentleman will pay for everything," Sarah blushed as stood up. She turned around and displayed her outfit.

"Very nice, Sarah. Here now, don't kill me, just let me finish," said Kate. Sarah closed her eyes and counted to twenty as her mother put something on her face. Sarah opened her eyes to find her mother had put on blush and brown eye shadow, matching her skirt and bringing her eyes out.

"Thanks mom!" said Sarah as she slipped on her shoes. Sarah kissed her mother on the cheek.

"Be back by 10!" said Kate. _10? Holy snot! She's never let me out that late before, _thought Sarah. _What am I thinking? Letting her stay out till 10 was not smart… _thought Kate. Eliot's brother pulled up in a blue convertible. Eliot was sitting in the back, motion for her to come over there. He got out and looked at her and her outfit. **(A/N- Forgot to mention this—they hung out a lot before this date, so they know each other pretty well!)**

"Wow, Sarah, you look… wow," commented Eliot. Sarah laughed.

"Thank you, you're quite 'wow' as well," she said motioning to his clothing. He was wearing a blue button up shirt with a couple flame designs on it and khaki slacks.

"Are we going to the movies or not, love bugs?" asked Calvin from the front seat.

"Sorry," they said as they blushed. Eliot held the door to the back for Sarah and then hopped in after her.

"You can sit in the front if you want, Eliot," she said.

"Nah, I'd rather sit back here with you," he replied. Sarah blushed.

"Cool," she replied.

_At the movies with Sarah and Eliot_

Eliot and Sarah decided on seeing 'John Tucker Must Die', as it was just out and it was very popular. They were having a wonderful time, throwing popcorn at each other, sharing candy and of course—watching the movie. Little did they know that both of their fathers were watching them.

Tom was sitting above them in the top part of the theater. He was 'casually' leaning on the railing to see what Eliot and Sarah were doing. They were just goofing around and flirting a bit. Even from here Tom could see his daughters eyes sparkle because she was with Eliot. Tom suddenly had someone cough next to him. He saw what he thought was a nightmare, then his horror-vision turned off and he realized it was just Jimmy Murtaugh. Wait, JUST Jimmy? No wife? No kids? So he must have been…

"Are you spying? Cuz I'm not!" they both whisper-yelled to each other.

"Wait, which one are you spying on?" asked Tom.

"See the one there, with the spiked hair, sitting next to the girl with braids?" said Jimmy as he pointed.

"Uh oh," said Tom.

"Why uh oh? No uh oh!" said Jimmy, wondering what the matter was, "Which one are you spying on?" he asked.

"The girl next with the braids, next to the boy with the spikes," Tom gulped. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"Wait! That's my son! Your daughter is going out with my son?" asked Jimmy.

"Hey! Don't call her my daughter if you are going to say it like she's a disease," said Tom, "But wait, that means she's going out with your son!"

"Nice work there, Einstein," said Jimmy sarcastically. They looked down at their children again.

Eliot was 'stretching' his arms. He casually put one around Sarah. Sarah looked at his hand and smiled. She pulled herself in a bit so she was leaning up against him.

"No, no, no! Sarah, stop that!" said Tom, nearly yelling.

"Eliot, you are in so much trouble when you get home…" said Jimmy. An usher walked up to them.

"Excuse me, if you two men cause any more of a scene I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said.

"Leave? I'm not making a scene! He's the one making a scene!" said Jimmy.

"It's not me! He was there first!" said Tom, now talking very loudly. Sarah got rigid, just as Eliot did. They slowly turned their heads up to look at the balcony above them.

"DAD?!?!?!" they both yelled. Sarah was on the verge of tears. Eliot tried to comfort her. Sarah stood up, grabbed her purse and ran out of there. Eliot gave his father a cold, hard glare and went after her.

"Sarah! Sarah, wait!" he called through the theater. He exited the movie and tried to find her. She was walking towards the exit. He ran towards her.

"Sarah, stop, please. Just because they ruined tonight doesn't mean you have to go!" he pleaded. Sarah stopped, turned to him and saw the look in his eyes. She sighed and sat down on the nearest bench.

"How could he? I understand that he wanted to know more about you and what I was doing, but he could have asked! He's always too busy with that stupid tournament to even notice the world around him!" she yelled. Eliot spoke up in a small voice.

"You know I didn't tell him your last name, right Sarah?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I didn't tell mine either," she said.

"I know! Let's get some dinner, get your mind off it. They movie won't end for another 25 minutes, so we can take as much time as we need. Calvin will understand if he has to pick us up at a different place," said Eliot. He wiped her tears and she nodded.

_Outside the pizza parlor _

"Sorry it's just a pizza parlor. I figured that was alright though, okay?" he asked. She nodded happily as they went in. They walked up to the register.

"Can we have a slice of pepperoni and…" he motioned for her to order.

"Another slice of pepperoni, please," she said.

"And two soda fountains please," he added. Eliot paid the cashier and then he gave them two cups and their slices of pizza and pointed to the soda fountain. They filled their sodas and went to find a booth. They found one near the window and sat down.

"Good enough food, madam?" asked Eliot sweetly. Sarah laughed. _I love her laugh, _thought Eliot.

"Yup, very good. I actually haven't been to this place before. It's good—do they do deliveries?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yay! Now we can have good pizza for take out night," she said. Eliot looked confused and she explained.

"We pick a night of the week where everyone is too lazy to cook and we order take out. Last time we came to the lake, they only had a vegan restaurant, so we began to hate take out night. But then they got Chinese, and now this place," she said. She had already eaten most of her pizza by now, and so had Eliot.

"Wow, I didn't know anyone who eats as fast as me!" she said. Eliot laughed.

"Yeah, it's kind funny, you know how it is in a big family, eat first of get nothing," he said.

"Yeah, pretty much. I sit next to Jake so most of our pizzas are gone in three secon—Is that my dad???" asked Sarah. Yes, it was. Her father was coming into the pizza joint.

"CRAP!" she whisper-yelled. She quickly got underneath the table and yanked Eliot under too. He yelped.

"Shush! On the count of three we're going to run out, okay?" she asked him. He nodded. _Wow, she's a control freak as well, _Eliot thought. _That's what you get from being in a family of 12 kids, _he laughed to himself. Sarah began counting.

"1… 2… 3… go!" she said as her father's back was turned. They ran out the door and into the street. They ran across the street holding hands until they got to a park, where they proceeded to still hold hands. Eliot noticed they were still connected and blushed. Sarah did as well. Eliot let go and whipped out his cell phone and speed-dialed Calvin.

"Yeah, it's me, Eliot. We're at the park. Long story. Just come down here soon, okay? Thanks, bye," he said.

Eliot grabbed her hand again as they began walking into the moonlit park. For some reason, everything seemed sharper at night. It was only then that Eliot and Sarah realized that they were alone in the park. They smiled to themselves and kept on walking quietly. They walked a far way (A/N- This is a long park, not a big one. Yes, it is near a street so Calvin won't have to come walking looking for them. Work with me here…) until they came to a little moonlit gazebo. Sarah smiled as he motioned for her to step in. He got in and they began slow dancing to no music. She rested her head on his chest and sighed happily. The clouds that were covering the moon moved so it was just them and the moonlight.

They swayed together for a while longer. Sarah felt the moonlight on her head and Eliot's eyes on her face. She looked up and he looked down at her. The moon was shining above very brightly. Slowly he leaned down she pulled her head up. Their lips met halfway. They stayed like that for half a minute until she pulled away. Eliot looked sad. She shrugged and leaned in and kissed him again, this time for longer. He pulled away after a minute. They silently decided to walk back to the other end of the park.

As they were walking, Calvin's car pulled up from around the corner. Little did they know that he saw it all and took pictures. Now, Calvin was a nice brother—he wasn't going to sell them to his father or anything, he was just going to keep them and give them to Eliot at a later point in time.

He motioned for them to hop in. Eliot held the door and Sarah smiled. She climbed in the back seat and waited for Eliot. He climbed in next to her. They buckled in and Calvin began driving back to the lake.

"Did you have fun?" he asked, smiling to himself on the inside.

"Yea, we did," said Eliot, smiling down at Sarah. Sarah yawned and leaned against him for support as he put his arm around her protectively. _She's mine, _he thought, _and you can't have her._

Review! I will not make a next chapter until at least 3 people do!!! Actually, I'll write the next chapter, but I won't post it… And I'm available to be a BETA for someone if you want. I'll help with HM, CBTD, Zoey 101, or HSM stories.


	7. Arguing and Jake's 'friend'

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen. I do own Charlotte, my own character.

**A/N- **This chapter is again, going to be mostly about Sarah, Eliot and their dad's. I've been expecting a lot of reviews, but I've only gotten a couple. I will put you as characters in it, I will use plot lines and I will take suggestions that you put in! I just need them! Reviews make me happy.

**ANGELMEGAN- **I'm glad you like it. I plan on getting the next chapter out this afternoon.

**Taynzpink- **I'd be happy to update this.

Eliot and Sarah both went to bed happy that night. Little did they know that Tom Baker had seen it all. He nearly dropped his pizza in shock as he saw them in the park.

Eliot had come around to the Baker's around 11 to see where Sarah was. Last night she said her brother, his friend and they were all going to hang out by 'their' dock. No one else seemed to ever use it. Sure enough, he turned around and there they were, splashing and laughing. Jake was with a girl, just watching her.

"Hey, Eliot! Over here!" yelled Sarah as she stood up in the water. She had on a pair of camouflage knee length board shorts and an army green with brown strapped bikini top. Her hair hung loosely in its usual braids. She had gotten a bit wet, so her hair was sticking out in random places and her clothes hung loosely on her. _Wow, _thought Eliot, _she looks good._

Eliot ran off the end of the dock, pulling his shirt off in the process. He managed to cannonball right next to Sarah, splashing her soaked. He swam towards her and gave her what seemed to be a hug. Confused, she hugged back. Suddenly, he dunked her head under the water and swam away, laughing happily. Jake and Charlotte began laughing so hard that they fell out of their kayak. They smiled shyly to each other as they tried to climb back in. Jake got in and then helped Charlotte in. They turned the kayak around to face Sarah and Eliot.

"Hey guys, we're gonna go over to that gazebo thing, alright?" Jake asked. He turned and began paddling before they could answer.

_With Sarah and Eliot_

Sarah was still annoyed at Eliot for dunking her, but she eventually forgave him. Supposedly, the rest of her family had gone on a hike, meaning Lorraine was hiding somewhere in the house. Eliot and Sarah were lying on the dock, drying off. Their heads were together and they were smiling. Eliot got up and pulled Sarah up with him. She smiled to him and he held her close. He bent down low enough to kiss her. They stood like that for a good minute when they heard something.

"Hey! You get away from him, Sarah Margaret Baker! Right now!" yelled her father's voice. She quickly jumped away from Eliot, and gave him an, 'I'm-so-sorry-I-didn't-know-this-was-going-to-happen' look. Eliot smiled weakly back at her. Tom was now getting closer to the young couple. He walked up to Sarah.

"What are you thinking, Sarah????!?! This is supposed to be a family trip! Not a 'let's watch Sarah kiss boys' trip!" yelled Tom.

"Dad!" said Sarah, obviously hurt that her father thought of her this way.

"Mr. Baker, I'm sure Sarah…" began Eliot. He was cut off by Tom.

"I'll deal with you in a minute, young man," he turned back on Sarah, "How could you do such a thing?? I guess you just waited until we were all gone to finally just sit on the dock here and swap spit with this boy!" he yelled.

"Dad, it's not like that!" Sarah yelled, now getting red in the face. _Uh oh, _thought Eliot, _Mr. Baker's gonna get it big time._

"I should have seen it this whole time! So, how long have you been going behind my back, kissing and dating boys? I bet you've been doing it ever since you realized the blanket was over my eyes. I'm disappointed in you, Sarah," he said with a mix of agony and anger. Sarah's clenched fists began to shake. Her eyes flashed and she took a step closer to her father.

"That's what you think of me? A slut? Someone who goes around doing this because I can? No dad, that isn't the case. Eliot is the first boy who has liked me for me. Not 'liking' me to get closer to Lorraine, and not 'liking' me because Jake's my brother and they like hanging out with him. No, Eliot likes me for me. ME. In a family with 12 kids, you don't hear that much. But lately, we have been. All about you wanting to win this competition. **You** wanting us to practice our guts out. **You **not wanting us to see the other families. **You** wanting us to make sure we're ready. **You **waking us up at 7:30am just to be sure we have enough time to wait for you to get ready to 'coach' us. I can't have any fun! The most fun I've had this whole time was with Eliot at the movies and now. You have to face the music. I'm growing up. With Lorraine you didn't care, because she was dating boys since she was practically born. But with me, it's suddenly a big deal? Yeah, that makes sense. You make me sick! I don't ever want to see your face again," she said with anger slathered in her voice and fire in her eyes, "I hate you,"

With those words, she ran off the dock and dove into the water, leaving a very nervous Eliot and a very loopy father. She swam and she swam until she came to the raft. She climbed up on it and pulled in her knees and cried. She saw Eliot being beaten down by her father. Eliot yelled something in his face and pulled off his shirt and dove into the water just as Sarah had done. He swam out to the raft and pulled himself out of the water. He began hugging Sarah and comforting her.

Within minutes, Jake and Charlotte had pulled up to the dock. Suddenly, Tom was yelling at Jake for being out with Charlotte. Jake fought back.

"Dad, I saw you do the same thing to Sarah just now. How could you be so hurtful? I haven't seen her this happy since she won the Lacrosse championships TWO YEARS ago. She's truly happy with Eliot, so what can't you accept that? I can't believe you don't want her to be happy because you hate his father. She obviously loves him and I don't know why you would want to crush that," Jake said with fire bursting into his eyes, "But I do know that someone who wants to drain the happiness out of my best friend, not to mention my twin, doesn't deserve to be talked to. Come on Charlotte, let's go see how Sarah is doing," Jake said, pulling the kayak off the dock. With a hurt and angered look on his face, Jake pushed off the dock and began paddling out to the raft. Eliot was still hugging Sarah, who was still crying.

"Umm… before you get uncomfortable Charlotte, I must warn you that this is not normal for our family. My dad isn't usually this… 'evil' during the summer. And it is okay if you are uncomfortable in this situation, and you can go home if you want," he said as they paddled out.

"It's alright, I'd actually like to see if there's anything I can do to help Sarah," replied Charlotte. They got close enough to the raft to pull their kayak in. They tied it on and climbed out.

"Sarah? Are you okay?" asked Jake, going soft. _No one messes with my sister, _he thought.

"No," came the muffled reply. Eliot's arms were still around her and she was still crying.

"Sarah, he's just trying to burst your bubble. You've been having a great time with Eliot, so don't let him get to you," said Jake, trying to calm her down. She lifted her head to look at Jake. Her eyes were red from crying and so were her tear streamed cheeks.

"Don't let him get to me? Jake, I see him every morning," she said. She wiped her nose and face. Charlotte handed her a sock. Sarah looked confused at it. Charlotte laughed.

"Sorry, I should have explained. I'm staying with my dad and he likes to make packing 'easier' by putting things inside things, aka socks into shorts. Of course, I washed the shorts and the socks got stuck on with static electricity, and I've been pulling socks out of my pockets since 8. Use one on your eyes," she said. Sarah laughed and did so.

"I just… can't believe he thinks those things of me. All of a sudden he's all mean," said Sarah. She sighed and wiped her eyes again.

"I don't want to dampen the day. You guys wanna have a diving contest?" she asked. Jake and Charlotte went to the other side of the raft to look at a hawk that just flew by.

"Sarah, are you sure you're okay?" Eliot asked softly. Sarah sighed. She leaned against him.

"Eliot, what do you think is happiness?" she asked him. His answer came to him slowly.

"Being here with you having a great time," he said. She leaned upwards and breathed him in. He may have been wearing cologne, but she loved the way he smelled, like his shampoo. Eliot began to look at the lakeside and unknown to him started playing with her hair. She sighed. It was perfect.

"Hey Sarah?" he asked.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Do you think your dad would kill me if he saw me kissing you out here?" he asked with a sly glint in his eye.

"No. Because were not going to do that," she teased him. His face dropped.

"We're not?" his eyes were filled with sadness.

"No," she said.

"Why not?" he whined.

"Because I'm going to kiss YOU," she said with a smirk. She lifted her head so her lips nearly reached her chin. He bent downwards and again, met her halfway. Tom saw from the lakeside and sighed. Lorraine was sitting on her window sill and nearly fell off when she saw… was that Sarah? Kissing a boy? Kate arrived back from the hike with all the kids. They were all hungry and thirsty so they went inside. Kate went around the back to let Gunner out. She gasped and then sighed happily at the sight she saw in the lake. Eliot and Sarah were sitting together, his arms around her, with her head up and his down, kissing. _Young love, _thought Kate. _I'd better make sure no-one else noticed them. Distractions, distractions…_

"Hey kids, Gunner's playing in the stream again! If you don't get him out in 10 minute's there's no dinner for anyone!!!" she yelled. Knowing Gunner, the dog would put up a fight till the very end. Her kids came rushing out to get the neurotic dog back inside. Back over on the raft…

Sarah broke from the kiss. She noticed no giggling or snickering. _Jake's gone, _she thought. Sure enough, Jake and Charlotte were all the way over in the gazebo, holding hands. Eliot looked down at Sarah again. She tilted her head upwards and kissed him again, this time longer.

_Over with Jake and Charlotte in the gazebo_

"Charlotte?" asked Jake.

"Yeah?" she asked, turning to him and giving him her full attention.

"Well, I'm no Shakespeare with words, so I guess… umm, I'm just gonna say it. I like you. A lot. More than I've ever liked any other girl ever," he said, blushing. She turned towards him, and she too was blushing.

"I like you a lot, too, Jake. This is going to be the best summer vacation ever," she said. She began to turn to look out at the lake again when Jake suddenly looked at her. She looked back at him. They turned their bodies so that they were facing. Jake leaned down and Charlotte tipped her head up a bit. Jake and Charlotte's lips came crashing down on each others. Jake's heartbeat was going a mile a minute. Charlotte's heart was dancing to the very same beat. After about 20 seconds they pulled away and smiled to each other. Kate was still watching from by the car. _Well I'm going to have some love-struck silly twins tonight, _she thought to herself.

Jake and Charlotte made a silent decision on them going back. This time, Charlotte sat in between his legs for the ride (A/N- Not like that you crazy people! I'm guessing you've all seen the size of a kayak! Not very big.). They paddled to the raft to find no one there. They looked over at the dock and saw Eliot and Sarah shaking water off them. Eliot got found their shoes and they walked hand in hand back to the Baker's cottage.

"Eliot, I don't think you should stick around. It's lunch time and my dad's apparently gone nuts," she said, "Not that I wouldn't like you to stay. It's just, they all went on a hike this morning and I didn't. I should hang with them some so it does at least qualify as a family vacation," she grinned. Eliot nodded.

"I understand. I'll see you tomorrow then?" he asked sweetly.

"Yeah, sometime in the morning then, okay?" she said. He nodded and tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear. He leaned in to kiss her quickly.

"Bye, Sarah," he said as he walked back towards the path back to his house. Sarah walked inside to find her mom all alone in the kitchen. When does that ever happen?

"Gunner in the stream again?" she asked her mom. Kate nodded. Sarah sighed.

"I'll go get my lacrosse stick," she said.

There you have it! Review, review, review!! Click the wonderful blue button…..


	8. Eliot the Wonderful

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen.

**A/N- **I want reviews! I'm gonna keep writing, but I would really appreciate some feedback. I hope eve

"Sarah, could you pass the potatoes, please?" asked Tom nicely. Sarah looked up from her plate, saw that it was Tom talking and put her head back down and ate some potatoes off her own plate.

"Sarah, did you not hear me? I asked for the potatoes, please," said Tom, getting a bit frustrated. Yet again, Sarah looked up. She looked at him coldly and bent down again towards her food.

"Sarah, pass the potatoes!" said Tom, now yelling. All of the other children were scared, but Sarah wasn't budging.

"Care to yell at me more like you did this morning, dad?" she said icily and bent down again to look at her food again.

"Sarah, don't start with me. Pass the potatoes," said Tom.

"I thought I wasn't good enough for you. I thought I did everything wrong. I might pass the potatoes to you wrong and you might be 'disappointed' in me again," she said coldly. Sarah bent down towards her food again. Tom sighed. The table was silent. Henry handed him the potatoes.

All throughout dinner he had been getting death glares from Jake and Lorraine. Sarah wasn't even looking at anyone at the table. Occasionally she would whisper something to Jake and he would laugh or whisper back. For a family of twelve kids, the table was unusually quite tonight. Tom sighed again and left the table. Sarah and Jake finished their dinner and began clearing the table as everyone else finished. As it was still light out they all went out to play in and around the lake.

Kim and Jessica went to the edge of the lake to look around at it and see the trees and mosses growing around the area. Nigel and Kyle took turns cannonballing off the dock. Charlie, Nora, Bud and Henry all got in the water and began playing water volley ball. Mike and Mark were looking for good trees to bungee off of. Lorraine was sitting on the dock reading a magazine. Jake and Sarah stuck around to help Kate clear the plates. Tom kept trying to talk to Sarah.

"Sarah, what you did at dinner was unacceptable…" he began. He was cut off by Sarah.

"What I did at dinner was unacceptable??? Dad, unacceptable is making me look like an idiot in front of the guy I like. Unacceptable is coming out there and yelling at me in front of Eliot. Compared to what you're done, what I did at dinner was angelic," she said coldly. She walked out of the kitchen and into the living room and flopped onto the couch. Jake gave Tom a stare and followed in Sarah's lead. Jake found Sarah crying on the couch.

"Sarah, what's with you? You hardly ever cry!" said Jake, trying to lighten the mood.

"Jake, have you seen what he's doing? I'm sure next thing he's gonna do is try and humiliate me at the Labor Day cup! He's just doing it because he's greedy. He's greedy, selfish, mean person. I don't ever want to talk to him again. I hate him," she said. She turned away from Jake as tears fell down her face. _I know one person who can make this right…_ thought Jake.

"Sarah, you gonna be okay? I'm gonna go and see Charlie about something, alright? You stay here. If you wanna talk, go to mom or Lorraine, they'll know what to do, ok?" he asked. He hugged her and walked out as she nodded to him.

Tom was heartbroken. He was leaning against the wall in the kitchen and heard every word that they said. _She hates me? You've outdone yourself Tom, _he thought to himself.

"I warned you about listening in on them," said Kate. Tom still had his ear up against the wall in shock. Sarah walked into the kitchen. She gasped.

"So you can't get enough spying in already, dad? You have to listen in on what Jake and I are saying too? Errgh!" she yelled as she grabbed her jacket and ran out the front door. Tom looked at Kate with hope. Kate guffawed.

"Oh no, you aren't dragging me into this. I'm the one who let her go in the first place. As she put it, I'm the 'easy' parent. I'd like for her to still want to talk to me," said Kate. Tom sighed. He definetly had his work cut out for him.

_With Jake_

Jake ran through the woods. He followed a sign that said 'To the Boulders'. Sure enough, he found what he was looking for. And by the looks of it, Eliot was on the deck reading.

"Hey, Eliot man!" said Jake. Eliot looked up from his book. He put it down and stood up. He looked down at Jake.

"What's wrong?" he replied, eyebrows knitted with concern. Jake's tone was very urgent for someone who was so laid back.

"It's Sarah. Our dad was at it again… she just needs someone right now. I may be close, but I think she really wants you now," Jake said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Umm… okay. Lemme ask Serena," he said. Jake nodded and Eliot disappeared. He came back out a minute later.

"She said I can go. I have to be back by 9:45 though," he said. Eliot grabbed his jacket off the table and ran down the stairs to meet Jake.

"So what happened exactly?" asked Eliot as they were running.

"Well, dad asked for the potatoes and Sarah didn't give them to him. He got mad and later he said what she did at dinner was 'unacceptable', so now she's really mad and last I saw her she was sitting on the couch crying, which is quite weird for Sarah, since she never cries…" said Jake in one breath. By that time they had arrived at the Baker's house. Eliot saw Sarah sobbing and talking to an older girl. He ran over to her.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" he asked. Sarah smiled weakly and was about to explain when Lorraine interrupted her.

"Ah ha, you must be the famous Eliot. Sarah was just telling me about you," she said. Sarah shot her a death glare and the girl quickly stopped.

"Please, Eliot, don't mind Lorraine. Wanna take a walk?" Sarah asked him. He nodded, they said goodbye to Lorraine and began walking towards the forest.

"I'm just so… and he's being such a pain… I can't take it… errrrrgh!" she cried, stomping over to a tree to sit down. The young couple sat on the ground. Luckily enough for Tom and Kate, they could see their Eliot and Sarah. Eliot began holding Sarah so she would stop crying.

"You gotta stop crying, k babe?" he asked. She smiled.

"Why? I'm just gonna get yelled at again," she commented, frowning slightly.

"Here, I'll tell you a joke. Two muffins walked into an over. One said to the other, 'It's hot in here, isn't it?' The other screamed. 'Ahhh! A talking muffin!'" Sarah's eyes lit up and she laughed for the first time in what seemed like months. Eliot looked into her eyes and saw the spark. He stroked her cheek gently.

"It's gonna be alright…" he cooed. She sighed and nuzzled into his chest. Inside, Tom was trying to fight himself. One side was saying 'go out there and stop them!' and the other was saying 'no, let them be, she already hates you enough'. He eventually sighed and went with the second answer.

Sarah dozed off before Eliot could do anything. He was studying her face. He mouth was in a smile. He eyes were shut, but only lightly, as if ready to wake up any second. So delicate, so fragile when she was sleeping that it amazed Eliot. When awake she was a rock; someone who would help others and wouldn't be beaten down. Lately she had been cracking under pressure. Eliot assumed she had fallen asleep because she was so tired of fighting with her father. _Eh, what'll a couple minutes do… _he thought. He was gonna let her sleep for a while. Eventually, he dozed off as well. Lorraine saw this and took the liberty of going to tell Kate. All the other kids were tucked up in bed. As Jake was going in he saw Sarah and Eliot and smiled.

_With Lorraine and Kate in the living room_

"Mom, Eliot and Sarah have fallen asleep out by the lakeside near some trees," Lorraine began. Kate smiled.

"Their fine. Throw a blanket on them," she said, "I'll call the Murtaugh's,"

"Okay, I'll go grab Sarah's quilt," said Lorraine.

Lorraine went upstairs to find Jake staring out the window at Sarah happily.

"Jake, what are you doing?" she asked him with a smirk.

"N-nothing," he stuttered. She gave him a look. He caved.

"I was watching Sarah and Eliot. I wanna have that someday," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "That chemistry. That connection," he said. Lorraine was happy for her brother.

"Could you help me clear off Sarah's bed? I'm going to get her quilt and put it over them," she said. Jake nodded and they began taking the clothes and books off her bed. Lorraine grabbed the quilt and walked out of Jake's room.

"Thanks, Jake!" she said from the stairs. Jake smiled to himself.

Lorraine grabbed some flip flops and went to cover them. She found them and smiled. Sarah was sitting inside his legs with her back to his chest. Sarah was leaning against his chest, right next to his heart, and he was holding her hands in his. He was leaning against the tree. Lorraine smiled again. She gently shook the quilt out and placed it over them gently. Eliot stirred but only for a second. He absentmindedly pulled the blanket up so it covered Sarah's shoulder and stomach. _What a gentleman, _thought Lorraine.

_Inside with Kate on the phone to the Murtaugh's_

"Hi! Is Serena there?" she asked nicely. A little girl had picked up the phone. She sounded about 6 or 7.

"One sec, maam," said the little girl sweetly. Kate chuckled. None of her children would ever say 'maam' to anyone.

"This is Serena," said the voice, now much older.

"Hi Serena, this is Kate Baker," said Kate.

"Oh, Kate! Sarah's mom then, right?" said Serena.

"Yeah. Anyways, um… Jake told me that you let Eliot over to see Sarah earlier. I was pretty sure that Jimmy wouldn't have liked it, so I decided to talk to you. You see, Eliot was calming Sarah down and they, well, fell asleep against a tree. Nothing bad or anything!" said Kate in a rush. Serena laughed. (A/N- They have met and talked face to face since the 'movie incident')

"Yup, that would be something Jimmy wouldn't like. It's fine be me, I know he wouldn't do anything silly. I'll just tell him that… Eliot went to a friends house to stay the night. I'll have Calvin and Anne back me up," Serena finished with a laugh. Kate let out her breath.

"Phew! I was afraid you were going to say no. Then Sarah would be sad again…" said Kate.

"Why was Sarah sad?" asked Serena, genuinely concerned.

"Well, Tom saw her and Eliot kissing on the dock earlier and yelled at her in front of Eliot. And then at dinner she yelled at him after he yelled at her for being 'unacceptable' or something. Anyways, right now she won't talk to him," said Kate with a frown. It was never easy when her kids were fighting, much less a kid and a parent.

"That's too bad. Well, Eliot can stay there for the night, and you just send him back home when you get tired of him," said Serena. Kate laughed.

"I don't think Sarah will get tired of him any time soon," she said, happiness ringing through her voice.

"You're right. Well, send him over by tomorrow afternoon. Jimmy insists on going fishing—with all of us," Serena replied with a sigh. Kate smiled.

"Well, I just thought I'd let you know, so you didn't get worried. Thanks again, Sarah really liked him," Kate said.

"Eliot really likes Sarah too. I just wonder how long it will take for Tom to realize that," sighed Serena.

"I don't know," said Kate. She heard loud jumping from upstairs, "I gotta run. Someone's breaking something," Serena laughed.

"I'll let you go place peacemaker. Bye!" said Serena.

"Bye," said Kate. She went upstairs to find Nigel and Kyle in a heap along with their sheets in a twist all around them.

"How many times do I have to tell you no jumping on the bunk bed?" she asked the boys sternly. They stayed silent. Kate sighed.

"I'll clean this up tomorrow," she said. She picked up each bundle of child and threw them into their respective bunks. She kissed them on the cheek.

"Goodnight boys," she said.

"Goodnight mommy," they replied. She blew them both a kiss and closed the door. For once, they boys actually went to sleep.


	9. Secrets

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen.

**A/N- **What happened to reviewers? I keep getting reviews for my 'Hey Juliet' story but none for this… hmm… Anyways, I wanted to add that this is going to have a MAKE-OUT fully described in it. Beware young ones. It's at the end so you don't have to read it if you don't want to. I thought I'd be a wonderful person and let you know. Know, since I'm so wonderful, how 'bout a review?? Cheers!

Sarah and Eliot awoke in the morning sunlight. _The sun's too bright…_ thought Eliot. _The sun? The sun! Oh god, oh god… I slept out in the forest with Sarah? Dad's gonna kill me. Omigod, does Sarah's dad know? He'll grind me to a pulp and eat her for a side dish! Wow… she looked pretty when she's sleeping._

The sunlight hit right against Sarah's face so her features were lit up. He smile was ten times stronger, her cheeks ten times brighter and her eyes were ten times prettier. All this made him go weak in the knees, even though he was lying down. He checked his watch. 8:48am, it read. Eliot wondered why the entire Baker family was still inside. _Sunday, ah ha, _he thought. Eliot bent down gently and kissed her. Her eyelids fluttered a bit. _Yay! One didn't work… let's go for two, _he thought. He kissed her again and her eyes opened slowly. Once she realized it was Eliot kissing her, she kissed back. She pulled away and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"I'll take that over a stupid alarm clock any day," she said with a grin.

"What, this?" he said and kissed her again.

"Yeah, that," she said warmly. She looked down as Eliot did. They realized someone had put a blanket on them. _Probably Mom, _thought Sarah. Then she too realized that she hadn't informed her parents. She gasped and pulled herself up. She pulled Eliot up as well and they ran hand in hand towards her house. She opened the door to find Kate and Jake in the kitchen getting breakfast ready. It seemed to Sarah that no other Baker in the house was stirring.

"Mom I am so sorry, I shouldn't have been out there without telling you," Sarah began. Kate cut her off.

"I understand. You too looked so cute together," said Kate. The young teens blushed.

"I could dare wake you up. And before you think about that, Eliot, I already called Serena and told her everything," Kate continued, "Now, would you like some juice?" Kate asked. Jake was on the bench drinking some orange juice and reading a comic book. The teens nodded and grabbed a glass. Sarah sat down next to Jake. She casually sipped her juice and then yanked Jake off into the sitting room.

"Who knows?" Sarah asked firmly.

"Mom, dad, me and surprisingly, Lorraine," Jake said. Sarah stood stock still.

"L-lll-lorraine?" she asked. Jake nodded.

"The fashionista, snooty and not to mention big mouth Lorraine?" she asked. Jake nodded once again. Sarah sighed.

"So when's she going to tell everyone?" she asked.

"Tell?" asked Jake.

"Yeah, like she always does with secrets," said Sarah.

"To tell you the truth, I think she may keep this one. She had a funny look on her face when she saw you guys," said Jake.

"I guess she could," said Sarah.

"Dad was really mad last night. He said if you were out with Eliot again he would never let you see him again. Mom and I teamed up against him though. She backed me up on the 'Sarah's visiting the Murtaugh girls tonight' while Calvin and Anne backed Serena up on 'Eliot's staying with friends'," said Jake, "I'm really sorry he knows. Mom and I tried, but he saw you from the kitchen window,"

"It's okay, everyone will put two and two together soon enough and figure it out. If not that, dad will tell them when he yells at me again," said Sarah sadly.

"Hey, no crying. Eliot's out there waiting for his beautiful girlfriend to come back," said Jake, wiping her eyes for her. Sarah smiled and hugged him for a long time.

"How was I paired with such a wonderful twin?" she said while still in the hug. Jake squeezed her tightly and then let go.

"I dunno Sarah, maybe because we just look so much alike," he said laughing. Sarah giggled.

"There's my doorknob brother again," she said with a grin. She and Jake went back into the kitchen.

"What were you guys talking about?" asked Eliot.

"Twin stuff," replied Sarah. Eliot nodded.

"Hey Jake, you wanna go hang out on the raft again today?" Eliot asked Jake.

"Sure, I'll bring Charlotte. I'll go call her now," he said, heading off to the phone. Kate stopped him.

"It's a bit early, don't you think?" asked Kate.

"No, she's always up early. She usually wakes up really early for school because she lives 2 miles from school and has to walk. Sleeping in till 7 in late for her," said Jake, reaching for the phone. Kate shrugged and turned back to her dishes she was putting away.

"So you'll come over in about half and hour? Perfect. We'll be here," said Jake, hanging up. He had a silly grin on his face.

"I know that grin," said Kate, "Two off my children have had it in the last two days,"

The teens all blushed. Eliot blushed for giving it to Sarah, Sarah blushed because she knew her mom had seen it, and Jake blushed because his mom knew about it. Kate smiled to herself. She remembered what it felt like to be young and in love…

Suddenly the group heard a knock on the door. It was quite loud, and they got about three insults shouted at them from upstairs. Jake ran to the door to get it.

"Hey Charlotte," he greeted her. He motioned for her to come inside. She was wearing bright orange board shorts with white stripes, a hot pink halter and a lime green head band. Her brown hair was rolled into two little buns on both sides on top of her head. Her shoes were lime green flip-flops. **(A/N- In all these clothing descriptions, I never put 'they were wearing swimsuits underneath' because it's a given. The guys' shorts are their suits)**

"Ahh, I'm blinded!" cried Sarah, remarking on the brunette's clothing, earning a light slap on the head from Charlotte. The girls had gotten really close since this whole 'Sarah fighting with Tom' thing started. She was one of the gang, and it made Jake much more comfortable not being the third wheel any more.

"Let's go swimming, I'm hypppppppper!!" yelled Charlotte. She grabbed Jake's hand began trying to pull him out the door. Sarah nodded to Charlotte and they both took a deep breath.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go," the girls said. Sarah grabbed Eliot's hand and began pulling him just as Charlotte was with Jake. The boys finally sighed and gave in. The let themselves be pulled out onto the dock. They clambered to the end and sat down.

"I wanna go out to the raft," Sarah said after a few minutes of silence, "But I don't wanna swim," she added.

"I know, we could use the kayak. I'll row you there, you get off, I row Charlotte over, and you row back and get Jake," said Eliot.

"Haha, my boyfriend's an evil mastermind," said Sarah, sticking her tongue out at Charlotte.

"My boyfriend's good at other things…" Charlotte said slyly. Sarah faked gagging and hopped into the kayak where Eliot was waiting. She waved to the others.

"See you in a minute!" she said happily as Eliot rowed her out. He got her onto the raft and then rowed back.

"Charlotte, hop on," he said.

"Why can't I row her?" Jake whined.

"Because then one of us would have to row each other. Not gonna happen," he said smiling. Charlotte smirked at Jake and hopped on. Eliot went back to the raft and got out of the kayak. Sarah got in and came to pick up Jake.

"Your chariot awaits, sir," she said with a toothy grin. Jake smiled.

"You realize that this is the most time we've spent as twins together this whole trip?" he said with a sad face. She smiled.

"How about on Wednesday you and I just hang out? Just the two of us," she said while paddling. He looked at her.

"Perfect," he said as they pulled up to the dock.

"Hello again Jake," said Charlotte, smiling. Jake smiled back at her and led her over to the other side of the raft, away from Sarah and Eliot. He smiled at her again and attempted to kiss her cheek. She saw what he was doing and turned her head quickly, so he ended up kissing her lips. He looked at her with surprise and then smiled as she grinned evilly. They began sitting down and well, making out. Sarah saw her brother and smiled. _Well, I have to say, the kid's got skill. At least Charlotte thinks so, _she thought with a giggle.

"Sarah, what's on your mind?" Eliot asked. He said, putting his head on top of hers. They were looking out at the lake. Ducks were sitting on the pond quacking to each other, fish were swimming around, and some kids played on the other end of the lake. Sarah sighed happily.

"Nothing. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?" she said.

"They lake or the fact that you don't have anything on your mind?" he asked.

"Both," she said.

"I know something that's beautiful," he said, kissing her cheek. Sarah blushed and grinned.

"Gee, I don't know," she said, playing modest.

"Well then, I guess I can't tell you," he said flirtatiously. Sarah faked hurt.

"Hmph! Fine," she said and walked over to the other side of the raft. Jake and Charlotte were yet again at the famous gazebo. Eliot walked over to her and put his arms around her. She looked up at him and gently kissed him. Eliot kissed her back and pulled her out of the 'backwards' hug. She looked up into his eyes and he gazed back at her. He got real close and leaned down towards her. _Lean up, _he thought, _come on, come on…_

She leaned upwards. Eliot leaned down slightly and just as she was on her tip toes, he gently pushed her into the lake. She screamed as she was falling. She gave him a dirty look as her head was popping up. He was on the floor of the raft laughing his head off. She gave him a nasty glare then changed her facial expression to a sweet, innocent smile. She batted her eyes at him.

"Eliot, could you help me out of the water perchance?" she asked. He looked into her eyes and couldn't say no. He leaned down and reached out for her hand. She took it gently then yanked him into the water. He yelled and then popped up. Soon they were both treading water slowly. She laughed at his misfortune and took his hand in the water. She started pulling them closer to the raft.

"Come here," she said.

"Nah, I like it in the water," he said, assuming she was pulling him there so that they could get on the raft. She shook her head.

"We aren't going up," she said, "We're going under. Follow me," she said. When you looked at this raft from anywhere other than under the water, it seemed to be just a big thing of wooden slats nailed together with some ropes. But, as Sarah and Jake had found many years ago, it was not. She took a deep breath and disappeared under the floating island. Eliot heard her pop back up and take a breath.

"Come on!" she said to Eliot from underneath the raft. Eliot shrugged and took a deep breath. He swiftly dove underneath using his hands as his guides. He felt around some. He found a rope going down and some wood. He felt a bit more and felt Sarah's stomach. He blushed even though he was underwater. He pushed his hand up to make sure there was breathing room and then popped his head up. He shook his hair, which was very sexy since it was wet Sarah might add, wiped his eyes and looked at Sarah.

"It's just good you didn't reach for me higher," said Sarah with a grin. Eliot's face flushed pink.

"At least you didn't hit me in the face," she said with another laugh. She moved over so there was a bit of room for him.

"Woah! This is cool!" he said. Underneath the raft was a little place, almost room-like. Someone, either when the raft was built or it was added on, had made another platform underneath the one above the water to stand on. There was about 3 feet of dry space with shelves and little windows carved out of the wood. How Eliot hadn't seen it from the dock or when he was on the raft he didn't know. He looked towards Sarah and saw her opening a hatch. She was undoing a latch and pulling a piece of small rope out of the way. She grunted at the weight of the door. She began ramming at it with both her arms to get it open. It suddenly opened quickly and sunlight streaked through the watery hidey-hole. Sarah wiped her hands.

"Much better," she said. Eliot immediately began asking questions.

"When did you make this?" he said in awe.

"Jake and I made it our first time at the lake. We've been here three times since then so we've made it better and better," she replied. She waited for another question.

"How did you make it so nice?" he asked.

"Well, the second platform was already here," she said, pointing down to the 'floor' they were sitting on. They were sitting cross-legged on it and the water was just above Sarah's waist. They rest of them were in the open air.

"And the windows were easy. It only took us a couple hours to get those in," she continued. She explained the rest of it to him and he nodded.

"But how do your parents not know? Or anyone else for that matter… the lake owns this, don't they?" he asked quickly.

"Chill, Eliot. Yeah, they do. But the last ranger seen here to check up on things was four years ago and he got scared away by a deer. Hasn't been back since. And I guess we made it good enough so you can't see anything from outside, so I guess that's good," said Sarah. Eliot noticed the 'Private' sign that was hanging on the wall.

"What's that for?" he asked. Sarah grinned.

"Since Jake and I made this, we decided it should be ours—only ours. So we made that sign. When we made it, we told everyone it was for our door, but we moved it in here," she said, "We used to hang it on the outside incase anyone came around," she said.

"Why aren't you using it anymore?" he asked.

"Well, Jake and I talked about it and we decided to let you and Charlotte use it if you ever need to. I wanted to show you so it could be our little place," she said with a toothy grin.

"Well I think it's wonderful. Can I bring friends in here?" he asked jokingly.

"No!" she yelled, "Like I said, it's ours. Now it's Jake's, Charlotte's, your's and mine. You can't show anyone else," she said. He grinned at her.

"I was joking babe," he said. She leaned in and devoured his lips.

He backed her into the corner and kissed her hungrily. She leaned forward and put her hand on his chest. She moaned and ran her fingers through his hair. He was leaning over her now and she was kissing upwards. He made his way down her neck and she softly moaned inside her throat. He began kissing her neck harder and harder. She suddenly grabbed his chin and pulled his face upwards. He looked surprised and then looked at her with a sly smile. She grinned as he captured her lips and her heart. She flipped so he was underneath her and she began running her fingers through his hair once again. He moaned inwardly and searched her mouth with his tongue hungrily. Sarah backed off a bit and then returned to the kiss. She let him discover every crevice and canyon in her mouth. She returned the favor and began searching his mouth. He was running his hands through her hair again. Sarah couldn't get enough of it. Finally the two broke apart and smiles at each other for a couple minutes. Sarah's hair was all messed up and so was Eliot's. _If it's even possible, _she thought, _he looks even hotter with his hair messed up. _

They closed the latch and swam out onto the dock. They hopped up and shook all the water off them. Eliot grabbed her hand by instinct and walked towards her house. They both had a funny look on their face, and Kate saw them through the window. She was going to ask where they had been, but she saw how they were looking at each other. _I don't want to interrupt; she would be so embarrassed, _thought Kate. Kate smiled to herself and went to get the door for the young love birds.


	10. Telling and Hickeys

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Cheaper by the Dozen. And I've also run out of cute/pun-ish/insulting disclaimers.

**A/N- **I just wanted to say that I've been getting a couple PMs about this and how it's only about Jake and Sarah. Well, I kinda hinted to that in the summary.

After they got back, Eliot was taken hostage by Nigel and Kyle. They took him and 'made' him play hide and seek with them. Sarah giggled as she watched. They had a nice family lunch with Eliot and now he was meeting her family. It was now after dinner, so it was about 8 o'clock and Eliot had left a long time ago.

Sarah sighed as she looked into her mirror. She lifted up her braid once again and tried to figure out how to get rid of it. _Sadly, _she thought, _there's only one way and one person who can help me with this._

Sarah gently padded down the hall to Lorraine's room. She knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Lorraine said. Sarah opened the door slowly and then shut it quickly.

"Lorraine, I've got a problem," Sarah began. Lorraine spun around on her make-up chair and came to sit down with Sarah on the bed. **(A/N- In this story, Lorraine and Sarah are nice to each other—the nicknames are just for fun and Lorraine isn't so much of a ditz)**

"What's up, Butch?" she asked.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone, Princess," Sarah warned.

"I pinky swear," said Lorraine, holding up her little finger. Sarah grasped it with her pinky and they shook on it.

"And I mean no-one, not even mom and definetly not dad," Sarah continued.

"Alright, I get it!" said Lorraine laughing.

"Okay. I was with Eliot today and well…" said Sarah. She hesitated before pushing her braid up and pulling her collar down.

"This," Sarah said, pointing to the blue and purple mark on her neck. It was about the size of a dollar coin. Sarah looked at it worriedly in the Lorraine's mirror.

"I don't know what it is," said Sarah. Lorraine giggled with glee.

"Sarah, it's a hickey!" said Lorraine, now almost in tears laughing.

"What's a hickey?" Sarah said. Lorraine stopped laughing, wiped her eyes and looked at Sarah seriously.

"You don't know what a hickey is?" Lorraine asked her.

"If I did I wouldn't be asking,"

"True,"

"So what is it?" asked Sarah.

"So, I assume you know what making out is then…" said Lorraine with a gleam in her eye.

"Yeah…" Sarah replied.

"And I assume that you and Eliot were doing it today…" said Lorraine. Sarah gasped and then remembered that Lorraine knew about her and Eliot.

"Uh… yeah," said Sarah, flushing pink.

"Well, did he happen to… umm, kiss your neck?" Lorraine asked.

"Yeah…" Sarah said. This was getting a bit awkward for the both of them.

"Well, when he does that hard enough, you'll get a hickey," Lorraine giggled.

"Great… So how do I fix it?" Sarah asked, hoping her older and wiser sister had an answer.

"You don't. It's like a bruise but it stays longer. You just have to wait," Lorraine began. Sarah looked at her horrified.

"But I can't let dad see this! Then he'll know what we've been doing," Sarah said.

"I wasn't finished Butch! Most girls end up just waiting or wearing long scarves or turtle necks. Seeing as its summer, those won't work. You have a couple options," Lorraine continued, "I can help you cover it with make up, or I could give you the hickey necklace,"

"What's the hickey necklace?" asked Sarah skeptically.

"It's this necklace I have," said Lorraine. She went to get it from the closet. She came back with a purple-y and blue necklace with big shells around it. She helped Sarah out it on. Sarah lifted her hair so Lorraine could clip it.

"Now, this is a special necklace. It's big enough to cover most of it," said Lorraine with a smile.

"Cool," said Sarah. Lorraine nodded.

"And then we have the make up route. Before you object," Lorraine began. She saw Sarah's eyes flash with anger, "It's the only way you can cover it without wearing the necklace. So, scoot your tush over here, and I'll teach you how to cover it,"

Sarah groaned and stood up. At least she wasn't getting it all over her face, so she eventually decided it didn't count as exact make up. Lorraine began with some wet skin color 'gunk' as Sarah called it. That helped a lot already.

"Wow, this is gonna be easier than I thought," said Lorraine. She took a thing of dark blush and put it on the hickey. She gently wiped it around and then put some more skin tone powder on it to hide any sparkles that were on the make up. Sarah looked at where the hickey used to be on her neck from every angle. No matter with different lights or different angles, you could not see it.

"Thank you so much, Lorraine!" Sarah said, throwing her arms over her older sister. Lorraine then walked over to the bed and motioned for Sarah to sit down. Lorraine began talking as Sarah sat down.

"So, you do know that won't stay on in the water, right?" Lorraine said with yet another giggle. Sarah looked shocked for the umpteenth time that day.

"Lorraine!" Sarah yelled.

"Sarah, it's not my fault. So just don't go swimming with the rest of the family. Hang out with Eliot, Jake and Charlotte," said Lorraine.

"I guess so- wait a minute, how did you know about Charlotte?" asked Sarah suspiciously. Lorraine looked her in the eye.

"Jake brought her over this morning. Everyone else was out hiking again," Lorraine finished.

"Sarah, I could lend you a swim suit I've got. It's got really wide straps," said Lorraine, "Or you could wear a rash-guard for a while," said Lorraine. Sarah figured she's just be swimming with Eliot, Jake and Charlotte so it didn't matter. Sarah thanked Lorraine and walked out the door with the beauty supplies Lorraine lent her.

"Thanks again Lorraine!" Sarah yelled as she walked down the hallway.

_In Jake and Sarah's Room_

Jake sighed happily and stretched out on his bed. He was grinning from ear to ear when his twin came in. Sarah came in broke his train of thoughts.

"Hey lover boy," said Sarah.

"I could say that to you too, you know," said Jake grinning back at her. Sarah faked gasping.

"How did you know?" she asked him, truly curious.

"Well, I saw you go under there and drag him in, and then I saw you two making out through the window!!" said Jake.

"You shouldn't be saying anything, Jake. Those are two way windows," she grinned. Jake flushed. Sarah continued, "And don't try to make it look like you and Charlotte are guilty," she said. Jake groaned into his pillow. Sarah grinned at him.

"I gotta go talk to mom now. I'll be up in a minute or two," she said, "You can go to bed if you want," she said. She left the room to a happy Jake dreaming of Charlotte.

_Downstairs with Kate and Sarah_

"Sarah, over here honey," said Kate through the open window. Kate was sitting on a rocking chair on the porch. Sarah stepped out into the warm summer air and sat down in the hammock.

"Sarah, how's your relationship with Eliot going?" asked Kate uneasily. Sarah sighed.

"It's fine mom, and dad can't to anything to ruin it," Sarah replied.

"It's not that, sweetie. I just…" Kate began. Sarah raised an eyebrow at her. Kate took a deep breath and continued.

"Well, I just… don't want you rushing into things, alright?" Kate asked.

"Yeah mom," said Sarah, thinking they were done.

"And Sarah, I think it's best if you told everyone about you and Eliot," Kate added quickly. Sarah sighed.

"Do I have to?" asked Sarah.

"I just think it's better than them finding out on their own, and it won't be so embarrassing for you," said Kate. Sarah scoffed.

"It would not be embarrassing!" she cried. Kate chuckled.

"You may think that now, but trust me, when the time comes, you'll hate it," said Kate. She knew how this went. Sarah sighed yet again.

"Fine, I'll tell them tomorrow at breakfast. Is that okay?" asked Sarah. Kate nodded. Sarah got up and kissed her mother on the cheek and went inside to her room, up to bed.

_In the morning at the breakfast table_

"So, what's everyone got planned for today?" asked Tom cheerily. Sarah glared at him and Jake sighed. Everyone knew that when he started like this, they were going to go on a 'family adventure'.

"Hey! I'm not gonna drag you guys around today. I'm letting you hang out at the lake today," he said. All the kids sighed in relief, even Charlie, who loved to go on 'family adventures' most of the time. Sarah silently cheered in her head. Some of her siblings were babbling on about what they were going to do when she piped up.

"I'm gonna go hang out with Eliot today," she said. Suddenly the whole table stopped moving. Nigel and Kyle stopped squirming and pulling each other's hair, Mark and Mike stopped talking about whatever they were talking about, Kim and Jessica stopped whispering about the recent books they had read, Henry stopped cleaning his clarinet, Charlie stopped chewing and Nora and Bud stopped silently talking to each other. Tom's face dropped. Kate's face was unchanged—she knew this was coming. Jake and Lorraine seemed a bit fussed and then shrugged at each other across the table. Tom spoke up with a hint of anger in his voice.

"And who would Eliot be, Sarah?" he asked. Sarah's face paled as white as a sheet.

"The one I've been hanging out with a lot lately," Sarah replied carefully.

"Or doing more than that!" Tom yelled as he threw his napkin down, stood up and ran into the other room. Sarah's siblings, apart from Jake and Lorraine, looked at her in disbelieve.

"What?" Charlie asked as soon as it sunk in. Sarah took a deep breath. _Come on, they're family, they won't care, _she thought, _they barely every do anyways._

"Eliot and I are… going out. You all have one insult or teasing comment and then we are done, okay? Youngest to oldest," Sarah instructed. Nigel and Kyle started first.

"Sarah and Eliot, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" they sang and then laughed to each other. They ran out of the room to hit each other with darts again. Lorraine ran to make sure they didn't get into her room again. Mike laughed.

"Hey, at least you kept it hidden for a while," he said. Kim and Jessica came next.

"We are very proud of you, Sarah," they said in unison. They came up and gave her a hug and walked out of the room. Sarah raised one eyebrow. Next came Mark.

"Lover girl!!!" he said as he went to find his frog, Bacon, with Jake.

"At least you haven't had as many boyfriends as you've had birthdays like Lorraine!" said Henry, laughing as he ran out the door quickly to avoid being hit by Lorraine.

"If he hurts you I'll beat him to a pulp," said Charlie. He came and gave Sarah a bear hug, nearly squeezing her guts out. Sarah laughed as he picked her up and spun her around. They only people left in the room were Nora, Bud and Sarah. Sarah looked up at her expectantly.

"Well, if I had to say, he's perfect for you," said Nora. Sarah gasped at the fact that Nora knew. Nora laughed.

"Hey, I may be old and incredibly pregnant, but I'm not blind," said Nora giggling. She got up and hugged Sarah tightly. Sarah whispered into her ear.

"Do you really thinks he really does like me?" asked Sarah. Nora chuckled lightly.

"Of course. Have you seen the way he looks at you?" Nora replied, revisiting the time she saw Sarah and Eliot out sleeping by the trees. Sarah broke from the hug and nodded towards Bud then ran out the door, to presumably find Eliot.

**Flashback**

_Nora was up early on Sunday morning. She got up and made some coffee. She sipped it and looked out the window into the fresh morning air. She gasped as she saw two young teens asleep in the tree grove. These were not only teens, but her very own sister Sarah! The boy she was leaning up against stirred as the light hit him. He yawned and looked at the girl in his arms. He searched every part of her face, looking for anything he could say was not perfect. He found none. Little did he know that Nora was watching them from the window. _What a perfect way to start the day, _thought Nora._

**End Flashback**


	11. Drama Part 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen for the last time!

**A/N- **A couple people have been saying they wanted some Charlie and Anne action. Review or message me your thoughts on this. This chapter has another make out scene in it. I want everyone to know that conflict is coming next chapter. I'm not going to make it all boring this whole time… message or review your thoughts or comments! I'd like 10 more reviews before going on. And please, your thoughts! I love that you like it, but 'Cool please update' doesn't cut it.

Sarah ran out onto the dock looking for Eliot. She saw him sitting and waiting on the raft, tying up the kayak, looking around somewhat nervously. Sarah waved and quickly jumped off and began swimming towards the floating island. She swam up to the raft and felt around for the ladder. She felt a hand and grabbed on. Eliot swung her up onto the dock. She wiped her eyes and smiled. They looked at each other for a minute and then they sighed.

"I told my family this morning," said Sarah. Eliot sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"What did they say?" he asked.

"Well, everyone thought it was good, except my dad, which is kinda annoying, but other than that, everyone was really okay with it," she replied shrugging her shoulders. She raised her eyebrows towards him as if asking him to tell her something. Eliot sighed.

"I told them too," he started. Sarah saw the look on his face and sighed. She eased them down so she was leaning against his chest sitting on the ground.

"All my siblings were fine with it, Anne and Calvin thought it was really cool, so did Serena, but my dad says that I should 'think hard about this and make sure it's a good decision'. I mean, come on! No offence, Sarah, but I'm not getting married to you! He should be able to understand love! He's been through what is it, 4 wives by now?" he said, muttering the last part. Sarah nodded her head analogizing what he had said. Eliot just sighed again and played with her braids. He lifted them up and twirled them in his hands. He went to put them down and froze.

"W-ww-what's that?" he asked, knowing full well what it was. Sarah hit him playfully.

"Ow. When?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yesterday," she said. He sighed again and rubbed it gently.

"At least it's mine," he said with an evil grin. She smiled weakly at him. The grin wiped off his face as it clouded over with worry.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Sarah sighed.

"I just… don't like that my dad doesn't like you," she said. She quickly realized her mistake and began to cover it, "Not like that! I just mean…" Eliot laughed.

"I know. Actually, I think it's better that your dad doesn't like 'us'," he said. Sarah looked up at him confused.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because he's got 12 kids! He's got a couple more to go after you, and I can't imagine it being easy for them going through this again!" he said. Sarah agreed. He rubbed her shoulder.

"Hey Sarah, how about we go to my house? I mean, my dad's gone, everyone else is fine with you being there, and Serena will take care of anything," he said, begging her. She saw the look in his eye and sighed.

"Alright. But I get to row," she warned. He nodded eagerly and hopped into the kayak with Sarah.

_At Eliot's House_

Serena greeted Sarah at the door warmly and invited her in. Eliot rolled his eyes and led her through the kitchen, hearing a chorus of 'hellos' bellowed at him. He sighed and walked down a flight of stairs. The sign on it said 'Eliot's Room'.

"You have the floor?" she asked him. He nodded.

"After much begging and yard work! But yeah, I do. I've got a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, sitting room and theater room thing," he said.

"Theater room thing?" she asked.

"Well I was avoiding using 'movie theater' because that sounds bad. It's just a big screen with a couple big fluffy couches for two in there," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. She got the hint quickly.

"Well, I must go check out these big fluffy couches to see if they are up to date," she said, taking his hand, "Care to join me?" she asked, giggling. He smirked and walked with her into the dark theater.

_In the Theater_

Sarah randomly picked a movie and chose 'Aquamarine'. Surprisingly Eliot didn't care or know how it got there. He just shrugged and muttered something about siblings. Sarah popped it in and grabbed the remote. She took off her jacket and threw it over the back of the couch. She cuddled up against Eliot for the first 15 minutes, and then he began making little swirl motions on her neck, right near her hickey. She gasped and he stopped, looking down at her with big eyes.

"Are you okay? I did something wrong…" he began. Sarah laughed.

"I just… wasn't ready for that. You can continue if you want," she said. He smirked and began massaging her neck yet again. She sighed in happiness as all her worries left her. She gently moved a bit so he could to her neck easier. He gently rubbed circles around her upper neck and moved closer and closer to her cheek. Then he suddenly moved up and lightly nipped her ear. She giggled and gently lifted his shirt up and traced his abs. _Woah, did I just say abs? He must be working out… _she said.

She gently lifted her hand to his jaw line. She pulled his head down and turned to face him. She kissed him lightly on the lips and began to retreat when he suddenly forced his lips onto hers. She grinned to herself and placed her hands back on his stomach, making a trail along his muscles. He grinned and put his hands on her hips, slowly moving towards her stomach. She giggled into their kiss as he tickled her. She slowly moved her weight so she was on top of him, her arms holding her up. He was reaching up for the kiss. He slowly moved his way so that she was down lying by his side. He quickly flipped so he was on top. She grinned at his tongue searched her mouth, looking for imperfections. He found none. She grinned as she ran her fingers through his hair. Sarah's hair was messed up and sticking out in odd places from Eliot's hands running through it. _Screw it, _she thought as she pulled out her hair. It cascaded down her shoulders. Eliot looked surprised to see her hair out of the normal braids. He found it was very straight and very silky. He pulled his tongue out of her mouth and let her explore his. She searched his mouth for anything. All she found was his tongue, which she began wrestling with. Soon enough though, the young couple got tired. Instead of watching the movie, they just fell asleep kissing each other. They were facing chest to chest and Eliot's arms were draped over and under her, as if to say, 'She's mine, back off'. Her hands were still on his abs, searching for something they never seemed to find. Of course, their heads were together and lips locked tightly.

Calvin and Anne sneaked downstairs into Eliot's bedroom. They heard the movie stop, yet no sign of movement from the young couple. Calvin peered into the kitchen and bathroom. Anne looked into the theater and squealed. She came rushing out and hugged her brother.

"Calvin!" she whisper yelled excitedly.

"What?" he whispered back.

"Come look!" she said. Calvin looked at her suspiciously and followed her into the home theater. When he looked, he too gasped. He saw the two younger teenagers, kissing each other while they were sleeping. Eliot's hands were placed protectively over her. Calvin admired his love and commitment. Anne sighed happily as he saw the look on Sarah and Eliot's faces. They were both grinning in their sleep. Calvin sighed as he took out his camera. Anne looked at him like he was mad.

"What are you doing???" she asked him furiously.

"I would have killed for these pictures with my first real girlfriend!" said Calvin, clicking away. Anne sighed.

"Just get done quick, we have to wake them up soon," she said. Calvin finished taking the pictures and motioned for Anne to do something. She shrugged and he walked up the stairs quietly. Instead of waking them up, she took a blanket and threw it over them. Eliot unconsciously pulled up the blanket to cover Sarah's shivering shoulders. She moved around a bit, but managed to never break the kiss. Sarah and Eliot both smiled into each others lips as the now warm space between them circled around them. Anne smiled to herself and remembered when she too was doing the same with her boyfriend. She smiled and pulled the curtain covering the doorway.

_A little while later in the theater…_

Sarah woke up to find Eliot's lips clamped on hers. She grinned into the kiss. She wanted to wake him up so she decided to gently tickle his stomach. He grinned in his sleep. She noticed he wasn't waking so she decided to slip him her tongue. Still, Eliot wasn't moving. Sarah sighed. She was still tired, so she decided to lean up against him and go to sleep again, her lips up against his.

_Even later that evening in the theater…_

"Eliot? Eliot… Eliot, where are you?" Jimmy yelled. Eliot's eyes fluttered slightly, but he returned to his dreams. Jimmy walked over to Eliot's bedroom, bathroom and kitchen and still couldn't find him. He sighed and went into the theater.

"Eliot Daniel Murtaugh!" he yelled. Eliot and Sarah woke up quickly. Eliot shot up so fast that if he hadn't been holding on to Sarah, she would've fallen on the ground. Eliot's eyes bolted open as he realized it was his father yelling at him.

"Dad!" he yelled, trying to not be embarrassed by his father in front of Sarah.

"What are you thinking? Coming down here and doing… **this** with this… **girl!"** Jimmy yelled with distaste. Eliot's face began to turn red and his fists began to shake.

"'This' would be kissing, right? And this 'girl' has a name! She's Sarah," he said calmly.

"I don't care! Wait… this is that girl you were with at the movies!" he said with his upper lip curling in disgust.

"Dad!" Eliot yelled, gently putting Sarah aside on the couch and standing up.

"I bet you've been sneaking girls in down here for weeks now! I go away and bam! You turn into some girl crazy snot nosed dirt face punk sneaking behind your father's back!" Jimmy said.

"I'm not a snot nosed punk! This is the first time Sarah's even been to this house! And do you want to know why she hasn't been here before? Because I didn't want her to meet you. Yeah, I knew you'd have this reaction. So did Serena, your WIFE, for crying out loud! That's why she made sure you were gone when I brought Sarah to meet my family!" Eliot yelled in his face.

"Oh, and that's supposed to make things better?" Jimmy yelled back. By now, they whole family had gathered on the stairs making sure nothing bad happened. Surprisingly, Serena was among them. **(A/N- I wanted to say that in this one, Serena is really one who connects with the kids more, at least more than Jimmy does. She's really not a ditz. Oh, and when they walked through the kitchen, Sarah got all their names and talked to them for a while. I just couldn't remember their names and I was too lazy to find them so I'm going to be making them up for everyone other than Eliot, Serena, Jimmy, Kenneth, Calvin and Anne.)**

"No, but it's supposed to help you see it the way I see it!" said Eliot. By now, Sarah was sitting with her legs pulled up and she was crying. Anne and Serena quietly tiptoed around the father son argument and went to get Sarah. She looked up and smiled weakly at them. They lifted her by her arms and led them over to the stairs, where they sat her down and tried to calm her down.

"Well it doesn't! And anyways, even if I was okay with you seeing her, which I'm not," Jimmy began. Eliot's face turned hopeful.

"You could do much better than that!" Jimmy finished smugly. All of the Murtaugh's, other than Jimmy, and Sarah's jaws dropped. Sarah's eyes filled with tears. Anne and Serena looked at Jimmy coldly and began making soothing noises and trying to stop Sarah's tears. All of the other Murtaugh's simply gave him an icy glare and left the stairs, presumably to have a 'kid meeting' upstairs.

"You have no right to say that! You don't even know her! You've just judged her by her last name is all! If you actually got to know her you'd know that she's a smart, funny, beautiful, intelligent and so much more! But you don't because you think beauty is skin deep. So, yeah, she may not have the perfect complexion! And maybe she doesn't look like Britney Spears or like girly things! But I love her. I can't understand why you don't understand that," said Eliot. Jimmy tried to speak again, but was cut off.

"Oh yeah, I do. No offence to Serena or anything, but you've had what is it now, 4 wives? You obviously don't know how to hold a relationship together. Maybe that's why you hate me so much," Eliot said.

"I don't hate you! I hate _that,_" he said, pointing to Sarah. Eliot's face was now red with rage.

"She's not an animal! And if you hate Sarah, then you hate me," he said. He gave his father one more evil glare. He walked over to Sarah, Serena and Anne. He smiled towards Serena and Anne and nodded. They smiled back at him and walked upstairs. Eliot took Sarah by the hand and pulled her upstairs.

_Upstairs with everyone but Jimmy_

"Hey, Sarah," said Kenneth, giving her a hug.

"Hey, kiddo," she replied with a weak smile. Eliot took her hand and dragged her outside to sit on the porch swing, which was really made for one, to Eliot's delight.

"Here, sit on my lap," he said with a cocky grin. She grinned at sat on him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He put his arms around her waist and rested his elbows on her hips. She sighed and ran her fingers along his hands.

"Why does your dad hate me?" she asked.

"He doesn't hate you, he hates your dad," said Eliot. He realized his mistake, "Well, he doesn't actually hate your dad, I meant truly and deeply dislikes…" Eliot started, nearly slapping himself in the face. Sarah laughed.

"No, I think it's safe to say that he does hate my dad," she said. She sighed and kissed his cheek.

"I just have to think," he said as he sighed. Sarah nodded and curled up more on top of him, making a bit more room so he wouldn't be so squashed.

"How come any time we sit down we get sleepy?" she asked him with her head against his chest.

"Because we have way too much to worry about?" he asked. She laughed lightly and looked out on the lake. Eliot looked at her and then the lake.

Anne and Calvin were standing by the window that looks out to the porch. Anne quickly took a picture and then snuck off to the kitchen to get something to eat.

_Downstairs with Jimmy in Eliot's room_

Jimmy was being his normal self—looking through his son's private items and snooping. He looked around Eliot's room and found a couple things, but not much. Most of Eliot's stuff were in other parts of his floor, so there wasn't going to be much. He saw the bed, a desk with a computer, and a closet. He decided to go for the closet first. He looked around and found a shoebox behind all of Eliot's soccer cleats. He pulled it out and gasped as he opened it.

"Oh no…" he muttered. Inside were pictures of him and Sarah, taken at the mall and other places. The picture of them kissing in some park **(A/N- refer back to previous chapters!) **and at a pond. There was one of him with all of the Baker's, but mostly just with Sarah. One was with Sarah just sitting looking out at the lake smiling. Another was of him and her… kissing? Jimmy shrugged his head. He took a couple for evidence. He then moved onto the bed.

He lifted the mattress and found only one thing. It was a green folder marked 'mom'. It had pictures of Laura, Eliot's real mom,** (A/N- Making this all up people. Go along with it!)**who died of cancer after her last child was born and Eliot was about 9. There were a couple with just her, but mostly it was of her laughing or with Anne or Calvin. The one that looked the most tattered and torn, though, was the last one in the pile. It was of Eliot, Jimmy and Laura, sitting on a table eating watermelon. Younger Eliot was sitting on the table top with a look of pure joy on his face. He was holding a huge watermelon rind and his face had bits of juice splattered around it. Laura was laughing and Jimmy was looking at how proud his son was. No one knew the photo would was being taken, so there was no stupid grins or silly faces. It was a bit out of adjustment and it was taken nearly halfway sideways, but it was perfect. Jimmy scoffed.

"So this is what he looks at…" he said, recalling many a time he had seen Eliot shove a certain picture under the bed. He moved on to the computer.

He check Eliot's emails. A couple from his friends, some spam and some from Sarah. He check out some of Sarah's.

_Hope we can hang out today. My dad's taking everyone out for a hike or something so we can go down to the 'cove'. Anne told me that your dad was gone, so maybe we could do something? I dunno, email me back. Luv ya!_

_Sarah_

He read through Eliot's reply.

_Hey, Sarah. Yeah, dad's going to some lame business conference a couple towns over and he should be home late tonight. Maybe we can watch a movie or something. Hint, hint… I miss you. I know, it's only been a day, but I miss not hearing your laugh or seeing you smile. Hope you are doing well and Nigel and Kyle haven't killed you yet. _

_Adios sweet-lips!_

_Eliot_

"Sweet lips? Yikes… he's got it bad. I'll just have to prove it to him that she's no good," he said, shaking his head knowingly. He then moved onto Eliot's word documents.

Eliot had a couple school projects and some stories about the lake his sister's had made and a bunch of other files. But the thing that really caught Jimmy's eye was the folder marked 'mom'. He double clicked and it opened. Inside was a bunch of documents labeled with subjects and dates. He clicked on yesterday's date.

_Hey mom, it's Eliot._

_I met this awesome girl, Sarah, a little while ago. I haven't been writing much because we've been so busy together. We have this secret place and everything. I can't tell you cuz if dad's snooping in here, he'd find it. Yeah, like he'd stoop that low. _

"Ouch," said Jimmy wincing. He continued reading.

_She's really cool. She likes all the things I do. Calvin says he might take us out knee boarding sometime. She's really good, apparently. Anyways, she's got all these brothers and sisters—12 in total. They're all really cool, and they've all got one thing they're really interested in. Like Kim and Jessica, they're really into books. I think they'll like Robin and Jeanette **(A/N- making it up as I go. Robin and Jeanette are twins about Kim and Jessica's age. I don't remember all the Murtaugh's names, so I will just have to make them up). **Sarah's got a twin, Jake, who's really cool as well. He's a skateboarder. _

_Anyways, Sarah's beautiful. She's got this great personality and these sparkling eyes that never stop. She laughs and smiles like there's no tomorrow. And she's a dancer and a lacrosse player, so she's really fit. I can't stand being away from her for too long. She just… lights up my world, I guess you could say. I don't think I've ever been this happy. _

_Uh oh, I gotta go, dad's coming down. Probably to check if I've finished my essay on football players of the century. How lame can you get? It's summer break, anyways. Well, we really miss you mom. This family isn't the same without you. _

_Love, _

_Eliot_

"He thought that was lame?" Jimmy said, commenting on the essay remark.

"I'll show him…" said Jimmy, cracking an (EVIL) smile. He printed some emails and the document about Laura. He took it all, including the pictures and went upstairs. All the kids were out washing the motorbikes and Eliot and Sarah were sitting on the swing outside. He laughed (EVILY!) and went to get a camera. He smirked as he took a picture of them all cuddled together looking out on the lake. He went to his study to get his evidence together before he called the kids for dinner.

_Later that evening…_

"Kids! Dinner!" yelled Serena. She noticed Sarah and Eliot curled up on the porch swing and smiled to herself. She walked out the door to talk to them.

"Sarah, I called your mom to ask if you could stay for dinner. She said it was fine, and even if you wanted to sleep over. I'm sure one of the girls would be nice enough to let you bunk with them," Serena said. Sarah nodded eagerly.

"Thanks! Are you sure it's okay?" Sarah asked, pulling herself up from the swing. She realized that when she did so, her elbow was in Eliot's gut. Serena laughed, nodded and went back inside.

"Oof! Sarah!" he moaned.

"A little early for moaning my name, don't you think?" she asked him with a giggle. He blushed like mad.

"You set me up!" he said, tickling her sides.

"Yup," she grinned, and kissed him.

"EWWW!" said Rachel, Eliot's youngest sister (who was 5). Eliot laughed and tried to hide his blush.

"Rachel, Seri said it's time for dinner," he said, using the nickname for Serena. Rachel nodded, giggled and ran inside. About a minute later the rest of the gang came piling up to the porch. Eliot lifted Sarah off him and carried her on his back to the table. He put her down in her seat and Jimmy walked into the room with some papers. Serena brought out the food and everyone began eating, laughing and chatting about the day and days coming. Eliot was carefully avoiding Jimmy's eyes and making sure to break any contact made. The whole table stopped when Jimmy spoke.

"So kids, I've got something to show you…"

**A/N-** Cliffy! Ha. Ha. Ha. I want more reviews! I'm posting chapters like mad and I know that people are reading this. I just want the little blue 'review' number to go up… Please… don't make me resort to begging!!!


	12. Drama Part 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen.

**A/N- **Last chapter was pretty long, so this one might not be as long as it was. It was 8 pages on my Microsoft word! I hope everyone is enjoying it. I also wanted to add that I'm going to Wellington on Friday (I'm in New Zealand, it's a big city a couple hours from here) for my cousin's wedding. I'm staying for a week and I will not be able to update. I am hoping I'll get one more chapter in after this one before I go, but I'm not sure. I might make a songfic about someone with the song "Don't Laugh at Me" by Mark Wills, but I'm not sure. Find a good character to work with and I will mold it into a story… Enjoy this chapter!

**Recap:**

_The whole table stopped when Jimmy spoke._

_"So kids, I've got something to show you…" _

The kids stopped chewing. Even Rachel stopped mashing her already too mashed potatoes to listen to her father speak. Jimmy took a deep breath.

"So, I was looking around downstairs in Eliot's room…" he started. Eliot immediately dropped his fork.

"And I found a few things," said Jimmy, pulling out the folder from under his seat cushion. Eliot's blood boiled and Serena gasped.

"I found these in Eliot's closet," he said, pulling out some pictures of Eliot and Sarah. Eliot gasped and Sarah's face drained any color.

"Hey look, it's Sarah and Eliot at the movies!" Jimmy flipped to a new picture, "And them at the photo booth! And this one, this was earlier, when they were sitting on the porch swing! And here they are kissing in a park…" Jimmy said with disgust. Eliot looked at Sarah and they knew what the other was thinking. The park picture was their first kiss in the park across the street from the theater. Calvin had given it to Eliot a while ago, and Eliot loved it. He showed it to Sarah and she liked it as well.

"Hey Eliot, could you tell me what you do with this one?" he asked, holding up a picture of Sarah, laughing with her head thrown back. Her eyes were lit up and her face had pure glee on it as her hair tumbled down her back, still loose in her braids. Jimmy held it in his hand and shook it a bit.

"So what do you do with it?" Jimmy repeated.

"I look at it," Eliot said simply. Jimmy looked appalled. _1-0, Eliot, _Eliot thought. He was gonna fight to the end on this one.

"Fine, I'll move on to my next case," said Jimmy looking for the documents he printed. He found the one he was looking for.

"Aha, here it is," he said, waving it in the air. Eliot's eyes widened as he saw that it was his 'letters' to him mom.

"Ahem. Here, I'll read some aloud:_ 'Anyways, Sarah's beautiful. She's got this great personality and these sparkling eyes that never stop. She laughs and smiles like there's no tomorrow. And she's a dancer and a lacrosse player, so she's really fit. I can't stand being away from her for too long. She just… lights up my world, I guess you could say. I don't think I've ever been this happy.'. _How cheesy it that??" said Jimmy, laughing up a storm and expecting his kids to as well.

"No, actually dad, that's kind of sweet," said Lana, the 10 year old.

"Yeah, we may not know much about love and all, but we know that's nice!" said Kenneth.

"Yeah dad, they're young, they're in love," said Anne. Eliot and Sarah blushed as she said this.

"What, it's true!" Anne finished. Jimmy looked to Serena for back up on this one. She just shook her head sadly. Jimmy was beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea.

"Well here, one last thing," Jimmy said, pulling the green folder and making sure Eliot saw it.

"Mom's folder!" he said. He leaped out of his chair and grabbed the folder from his father's hands. Serena's hand was resting on her heart, which was now beating way too many times a minute. Eliot was nearly in tears by now. Sarah tried to calm him down.

"So, Eliot, what's in there?" Jimmy asked tauntingly. Eliot tried to calm himself down and then replied to his so called 'father'.

"Pictures of mom," he said uneasily.

"Mom's right here!" said Jimmy, laughing and pointing to Serena. Serena looked at him aghast and ran over to Eliot.

"Eliot, I'm not your mom, and I never will be. But your mom is always in here," she whispered, pointing to his heart. Eliot nodded and understood. He looked up at her with big eyes. She smiled with just the corner of her mouth and kissed his forehead. Unlike most times, he didn't pull away. Serena was the best wife Jimmy had ever had. She understood the children and what they were going through.

"Isn't that stupid! That have a folder of pictures of your mother!" said Jimmy, "Do any of you have something so idiotic??!?!" Jimmy yelled. The kids looked at each other and then at Eliot. He was too weak; he needed help. The kids all ran to their rooms and then came back with a folder. Calvin's was purple, Anne's was blue, Eliot's was green and so forth. They all stood by Eliot.

"Yeah, we do," Calvin said.

"Since you were too selfish and caught up in yourself when mom died, we never even got a lasting memory of her," said Anne.

"You boxed up all her pictures and belongings and threw them in the attic!" said Kenneth.

"You barely even cared," said Robin.

"You never asked us how we felt," said Jeanette.

"So once Serena found out about it, she helped up get the boxes down while you were in Hawaii," Lisa continued.

"And she made us these folders," said Calvin, waving his in the air.

"They all have different pictures of her and us. There are no copies or anything," said Anne.

"She worked really hard on them," said Kenneth.

"She got pictures of us all together with mom and some just with mom or mom and the respective kid," said Robin.

"And you said you didn't have any pictures of her," Jeanette began, "But you were wrong. You have so many. And you said the only one was the one in your 'office', you know, they one you put a picture of a footballer over?" she questioned. Jimmy began to stutter. He looked to Serena for help, only to find an empty chair. He looked over the kids and found her with her arms around Eliot from behind.

"Serena, how could you not tell me?" Jimmy asked, with anger rising in his voice.

"The same way you didn't tell me about your little vacation in the Bermudas without us," Serena challenged, her voice not changing one bit.

"Nobody knew about that!" said Jimmy.

"No, we have for a while. Unlike you, we have feelings. We were worried when you didn't come home the day you said you would, so we called the company. They said you were on a vacation," said Calvin. Now they were the ones smirking. Jimmy's face crumbled as he began to sob into his hands.

"I'm so sorry! I've been such a bad father," he said. He expected a hand to pat his back, but no one came.

"Yeah, we are too," said Eliot. The whole group walked away. Serena went with Eliot and Sarah to talk with them in the sitting room.

_What have I done?_

**A/N- **Like I said, it's a bit short. I know. I hope you enjoyed and feel free to drop me a review! They'd lighten my day… I noticed I've gotten over 1,000 hits and only about 16 reviews! I might be discontinuing if I don't get some more.


	13. Pink! Sleeping and Breakfast

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen.

**A/N- **Warning: this chapter has some sexual references. If you don't like reading that sort of stuff, don't. So, like I said before, reviews are very much appreciated. I'm beginning to think I'll post this and another chapter before I go. I'm going for a week so I'd like to see some reviews in my inbox, please! Enjoy.

_With Eliot, Sarah and Serena in the sitting room_

"Sarah…" Eliot began. Her fragile body was shaking and Eliot was holding her in his lap. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was hanging limply in her braids. Eliot talked to her in a soothing voice and rubbed her forehead.

"Sarah, come on, he doesn't mean it," said Eliot. He looked up at Serena for help. She looked down at him sitting on the couch and smiled. _How does Jimmy not see this? He loves her… _thought Serena.

"Sarah, you're welcome to stay the night, as I said before. Do you want to?" asked Serena. Eliot nodded before Sarah even had a chance and Serena laughed. She got up and went to go call Kate to give her the update. Sarah smiled softly up at Eliot. Serena walked back in.

"Okay kids, it's all worked out with your mom Sarah. So now, you can sleep in the sitting room near Eliot's room or you can sleep in one of the girls' rooms," said Serena. Sarah thought for a moment and blushed.

"Eliot's… room…" she mumbled. Eliot grinned and Serena smiled at her.

"Excellent choice madam, right this way," she said. Sarah grinned back at Eliot as Serena led her to find some clothes to sleep in.

_Finding clothes with Serena and Sarah_

First they stopped off at Becky's room. She was 17 and about Sarah's size (which made Sarah wonder to know end). Sarah walked into the room and nearly died laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked the girl snottily. Apparently the whole 'sticking up for Sarah and Eliot' thing was way done for her. Sarah tried to catch her breath.

"Your room…. It's PINK!" said Sarah, laughing. Becky scoffed uppity. Serena sighed.

"Beck, can you lend her some clothes for pajamas?" asked Serena. Becky looked Sarah up and down.

"I might have something that will look good on you…" said Becky. She ran into her walk in closet.

"I need something to sleep in, not to walk down the catwalk in…" Sarah muttered as Becky went to look for something. Serena laughed but quickly turned it into a cough as Becky walked back in. She threw some pink silk fabric 'thing' at Sarah. Sarah unfolded it and nearly fainted.

"So where are the bottoms?" Sarah asked, holding up a tiny pink and flowery nightgown. Becky laughed.

"That's it, silly!" she said, giggling. Sarah looked at Serena wide eyed and then fled from the room. She went down to Eliot's room and went to his dresser. She found a huge shirt. She grabbed it and ran back up to Serena, who was retelling the tale to Eliot who was sitting on the counter.

"Tushie off the bench, mister," said Serena, whipping his butt with the tea towel she was using to wipe the counter down with. Eliot blushed and sat on a stool. Sarah walked over and sat on his lap. He grunted.

"Ouch, Sarah, there are other chairs around here!" he said.

"Yeah, but this one's most comfortable," she pointed out. He shrugged.

"Okay," he said. She pulled out the t-shirt she had found and held it up to him.

"Is it okay to sleep in this?" she asked him. He nodded and then gasped dramatically.

"You went through my dresser!" he said. She leapt up and began running. He chased her down into his room. (**A/N- From now own, I'll just call it Eliot's room. But it's actually got all the rooms, like the sitting room and bedroom.) **She ran into his bedroom and found herself cornered. She squealed and leapt up onto the bed, hoping to get away. He was too quick for her and made her fall on the bed. He was lying on top of her and breathing heavily. Serena walked in.

"Hey, Eliot, Sarah's mom sai--- Hey, ho, what are you doing???" she demanded. Eliot's eyes grew wide and he jumped off the top of Sarah, who was now grinning. Serena saw this and quickly understood, but stayed standing in front of Eliot with her hands on her hips, waiting for an explanation. He stammered and stumbled in his speech.

"We were just chasing each other—Sarah, you were there! Help me! We were running, and um, we fell onto the bed!" he said quickly. Serena laughed.

"I know," she said. Eliot gave her an evil stare and she looked on to Sarah.

"Sarah, I found some of Eliot's old boxers. You can wear those," she said nicely before giving Eliot a toothy grin and running out of his room before he threw something at her. Eliot looked at the bundled ball of clothing on the bed and shrugged, throwing it to Sarah.

"There you go," he said. Sarah went out to pull out the couch and Eliot went to get changed in the bathroom.

_A little while later after Sarah's used the bathroom…_

Sarah climbed into the couch's pull out bed. She had on an old 'Junior Lifeguard' shirt on and Eliot's old boxers, much to her delight. She didn't forget to remind him every once in a while and embarrass him to no end. She climbed into the bed and looked out the window into the black darkness of the lake. She sighed and pulled the covers around her. It was a chilly evening at the lake, and the window had been cracked all day, so the crisp air was still hanging around the room. She shivered under the thin covers as very cold patch of air nestled upon her. _Great, _she thought. She sighed and turned over, only to find Eliot standing on the other side of the bed.

"Ah!" she said, pulling the covers up against her body. Even though she was fully covered, it was a reflex you had when you lived in a family of 12 kids. She put her hand on her chest as Eliot sat on the edge of the bed.

"Scared much?" he asked cockily, grinning at her. She gave him a glare.

"I wasn't, not until you came and scared me!" she yelled at him. He pulled his head back frightened. Then he reached out to her in worry and touched her cheek.

"Sarah, you're freezing!" he said, his eyebrows knitting together with concern.

"No I'm not," she defended herself, when inside she knew that she really was quite cold.

"Sarah, come into my room. We'll be warmer then," he said with a smile. She agreed and walked with him into his room. She smiled and sat on the edge of the bed and raised her eyebrows at him as she crawled into bed.

"Well what are you sitting there for?" he asked her. She smiled and scooted up towards him. He wrapped his arms around her and got comfortable. She kissed him and he kissed her back. They sat kissing for a minute before looking at each other. Sarah looked at his face and ran a finger down his jaw line. His hands were at her hips, tracing the curves of his girlfriend's fit body. She sighed happily and leaned into his chest and fell asleep.

_In the morning_

Eliot woke up to the sunlight streaming on his face from the window above. He gently pulled the curtain across the window and the sun quickly left the room. He looked at Sarah, who was still asleep, lying on his front. Her head was against his chest, her left hand across his body and her right on his abs. He chuckled softly at this and reached up to the windowsill. He felt around and found the yellow rectangular box and pulled it down. He slid the gear around and snapped a picture at his Sleeping Beauty. **(A/N- HA! Betcha didn't know it was gonna be a camera!!!!) **Her eyelids fluttered at the sound and he quickly threw the camera at a pile of laundry on the floor. He pulled the cover up a bit more and pretended to be asleep. She hadn't stirred since then, but he heard quiet footsteps coming down the stairs. The person obviously stepped on Eliot's "security step", it squeaked rather loudly when stepped on, and swore.

"Damnit!" the stranger said under their breath. Wait, no, _his _breath. Eliot eyes widened in fear as he realized it was his father who was coming down the stairs. Eliot hoped his Jimmy would walk upstairs, but yet again, Jimmy was the nosy father he is and stuck his head around.

"Hello?" he yelled softly. Not softly enough for Sarah to still be sleeping deeply as she was, Eliot thought as Sarah stirred. Jimmy walked silently over to Eliot's door, which was half closed. Eliot shut his eyes and hoped his father wouldn't see them. Too late.

"Oh! So it wasn't enough for you two to be dating each other, you had to be sleeping together as well???" Jimmy cried as he saw Sarah sitting in Eliot's arms, both of whom looked asleep. Sarah's head rose in shock as she rubbed her eyes. Eliot eyes shot open and he looked around. He nearly sat up but then realized that Sarah's body was still, what looked like, 'thrown' across him. She sat up, wild-eyed, as she computed the words Jimmy had said. Eliot seemed to figure out the sentence at the same time and threw his legs over the bed as Sarah scooted over so she was sitting on the far end of the bed, away from Eliot. They looked at each other with scared faces, not trying to offend the other.

"Well?" asked Jimmy, his eyes gleaming with anger and pure evil. He stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed. Eliot looked at him with anger and Sarah looked scared, as if she might hide under the bed or cry any minute now. Eliot began to stutter. Jimmy looked at Sarah to see her sitting in a big t shirt.

"Is she even wearing pants???" asked Jimmy, now aghast. Sarah's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"I'm not a slut you asshole! Just because you can't stand to see people happy doesn't mean they can't ever be!" she yelled and ran upstairs to find Serena. Jimmy's eyebrows hit the ceiling and then came back down.

"So, son, how was she?" he asked with a sneer. Eliot's jaw dropped in amazement that his father would say this and his eyes widened. His jaw clenched and he uttered the words that should have meant something to his father.

"I love her," he said and he ran upstairs to find her.

_Upstairs with Serena and (gasp) Kate_

Serena was in the kitchen, humming along to herself and cooking breakfast for the kids and her guest. She sighed happily as she opened the window and the early morning air flowed in. Kate was looking through an old photo album of the kids and sipping some coffee. Serena was pouring orange juice into glasses as she heard something yelled from downstairs. She recognized the voice as Sarah's.

"I'm not a slut you asshole! Just because you can't stand to see people happy doesn't mean they can't ever be!" Serena heard. Kate gasped and put down the album. They then heard loud footsteps running up the stairs into the kitchen. Serena put down the jug and Kate stood up. Sarah's eyes were full of tears and she quickly wiped them as she realized it was her mother's figure standing by the bench. Sarah looked at her mother and quickly ran to her and hugged her.

Sarah cried softly into her mother's shirt. Kate hugged her back tightly.

"It'll be fine, honey," said Kate. Sarah looked up at her.

"No it won't! He hates me!" Sarah replied. Kate looked aghast.

"Eliot hates you? I'll kill him!" Sarah's mother replied. Sarah laughed softly.

"No, Jimmy," she said. Kate looked relieved. Serena laughed slightly at this comment. Yet again, the ladies in the kitchen heard someone coming upstairs. Eliot sprung towards Sarah and firmly kissed her. He pulled them apart and put his forehead against hers.

"I could never hate you. Did I ever tell you you're beautiful?" Eliot whispered. Sarah smiled shyly.

"You have now," Sarah replied. She kissed him firmly for a while until someone in the room coughed. Sarah jumped apart, assuming it was Jimmy. Serena and Kate stood side by side, arms crossed with one eyebrow raised. Sarah smirked.

"Oh mom, you're just jealous that I have such a wonderful boyfriend," Sarah said. Kate's jaw dropped in mock hurt.

"My sweet Sarah has turned into some…" Kate began. Sarah cut her off.

"Stop! You'll start to sound like dad…" Sarah said, muttering the last part. Kate laughed and Serena pointed to the spread of food on the table.

"Help yourselves," Serena said to the teens, then bobbing her head towards Kate, including her as well. Serena and Kate then walked out the door to the patio. Sarah promptly grabbed a glass of orange juice and drank it all in one go. She then walked back to where Eliot was standing. Eliot raised his eyebrows at her.

"Thirsty much, babe?" he asked.

"Nah, I just thought you'd like it," she said. Eliot looked at her confused. She kissed him roughly, snaking her tongue into his mouth. His eyebrows shot up once again as she locked him between her and the wall. It was quite a funny state for him to be in, seeing as Eliot was a good half foot taller than Sarah. But, she was a strong one and kept him there. Her large t-shirt was hanging off her side, and every once and a while Eliot would pull it up and rub around her sides. He grinned into the kiss and shoved his tongue into her mouth. She was surprised and then kissed him back harder. While she was in her short state of surprise, he flipped so he was the one caging her to the wall. She gasped and then smirked into the kiss as he lifted her up on his knee. She giggled and pushed his knee down and hopped onto the floor, breaking the heavy kiss. Eliot pouted. She giggled.

"Oh, it's not for long," said Sarah, looking around in the sitting room. She found what she was looking for and pulled Eliot over to a big fluffy armchair meant for one. She pushed him down on it and promptly sat down on him.

"Ooof, Sarah!" he whined. She gasped.

"Are you calling me fat?" she asked. His eyes went wide.

"No! Not at all!" he began. Sarah laughed and kissed his nose.

"It's alright," she said, and kissed his lips once more. She then rested her head back on him and closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of him. She sighed happily and quickly found herself in a deep sleep. Eliot sighed, seeing as there was no way that he was going to get out from under her. He grabbed the blanket and pillow from the couch next to them. He placed the pillow so it supported both their heads. Though, it was just a pillow, and it proceeded to move Sarah's head so it was leaning on top of his shoulder. He laughed as she used his shoulder as a headrest. He pulled the blanket up over them and tucked it in round the sides. He made sure Sarah had no cold spots, making half of his right leg a bit chilly. She smiled in her sleep and kissed him. Eliot was amazed that she could still aim while sleeping. He grinned to himself, put his arms around her and fell asleep.


	14. Bringing The Man Down, Part 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own.

**A/N- **You know how I said I wanted reviews? Screw that. I mean, I'd still like them, but this is really fun to write so I'm just gonna do that whether you like it or not. I'm working on a couple new chapters for my other stories (Hannah Montana and the Suite Life) so they'll be posted soon. So sorry I haven't updated; I was out of town for the week for my cousins wedding. Okay, so on another note. I went onto and saw some of the names for the Murtaugh's.

**Baker's Ages:**

Tom- ???

Kate- ???

Nora (McNulty)- 23

Charlie- 21

Lorraine- 19

Henry- 17

Sarah- 14

Jake- 14

Mike- 11

Mark-9

Nigel- 7

Kyle- 7

Lisa, becky, Kenneth, robin, calvin,

**Murtaugh's Ages: **Okay, so you know how I made up some characters in other chapters? Well, they don't count. I'll change their names now.

Jimmy??? (older than Serena, most definetly)

Serena???

Calvin: 24

Anne: 22

Daniel: 21

Becky: 17

Eliot: 15

Lisa: 12 (I named her Jeanette I think…)

Robin: 12

Kenneth: 7

Now, I added a character called Rachel. No such person! Pretend she was… Kenneth.

Okay, so that's done. I know their ages are a bit jumpy in the Murtaugh clan, but I couldn't remember that well. If anyone wants to post CBTD2 on youtube then I could remember! Evil youtube people….. On with the story!!!

_With Kate and Serena out on the front porch_

"He's just… too afraid, I guess," Serena said, sighing and sipping her coffee.

"Of what?" asked Kate.

"Maybe 'losing' the only person who's ever looked up to him?" Serena shrugged back.

"Well, that's a bit unreasonable, even for Jimmy," said Kate.

"I know! Maybe it's because Jimmy didn't have a girlfriend that nice when he was 15," said Serena. **(A/N- Eliot's 15, remember. I know, in the 4th chapter I said Eliot's 14. I lied. And I know in the 5th chapter I said Sarah was 13. I lied again.) **

"Maybe…" said Kate. She sighed.

"We should go in, the rest of the kids will be up soon," said Serena.

The ladies sat up from their chairs and grabbed their coffee cups. Serena opened the door to find, surprisingly, no one in the kitchen. No fighting, no bickering, and most of all, none of the food had been touched.

"I guess they are taking advantage of it being summer and being able to sleep in…" muttered Serena. Kate laughed.

"Don't worry—sometimes mine don't get up till noon!" Kate said with a giggle. Serena laughed and quickly stopped and gasped as she looked into the sitting room. There, on the SMALL armchair, sat Eliot and Sarah, sleeping. Serena raised her eyebrows and looked at Kate. Kate looked a little worried and then relax as she saw Eliot's arms leaning over Sarah, nothing more. Serena got a sneaky look on her face. She quickly ran upstairs to find Calvin.

_Upstairs with Calvin_

Calvin was stretching his arms. He had heard the whole argument (and last nights conversations, much to his delight. If he ever needed to blackmail Eliot, he had the perfect weaponry) with Eliot and Jimmy, and tried to sleep through it. Eventually the sun peeked through his curtain and he sighed. _Time to get up, _he thought. He pushed the covers off him and pulled on a t-shirt. He stretched and looked at the time. 9:23 AM it read. _Screw it, _he thought. He slumped back into bed when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. _Go knock on Anne's door, go knock on Anne's door, _he willed the person outside to do so.

"Calvin, you decent?" he heard Serena asked. He groaned and sat up.

"Yeah, why?" he asked as Serena walked in.

"I need some help from you…" said Serena.

_Downstairs with Kate, Sarah and Eliot (who are asleep in the chair)_

Kate sipped her coffee and looked out onto the quiet lake. Birds were fishing for bugs, a troop of deer were sitting along the lakeside, dozing in the grass and a lone old man walked down a small jetty with a fishing box and pole. She heard Serena and another set of footsteps coming down the stairs. Calvin joined Serena on the landing.

"Oh! Hello Mrs. Baker," said Calvin politely. Kate nodded towards him and smiled. Serena motioned over to the chair where Eliot and Sarah were sitting. Calvin's face turned a happy sort of evil, one Kate had seen many a time on Jake and/or Sarah.

Calvin crept up to the sleeping couple and poked Eliot. He stirred and pulled his arms around Sarah tighter.

"Awww!" cooed the women, but Calvin silenced them.

"Shhh!" he said, putting his finger up to his lips. The ladies quickly stopped laughing and their faces turned serious. He stepped so he was facing the two in the chair. He turned around so his back was facing them and---

"Oww! Calvin, get your fat butt off Sarah!" said Eliot.

"You, little brother, are sitting in my seat," said Calvin in a posh English voice.

"You, my boyfriend's big brother, are sitting on my lung!" said Sarah in a raspy voice. Calvin gasped dramatically and hopped off.

"Well I can tell where I'm not wanted!" said Calvin, walking over to the breakfast table in a fake huff puff.

"Good!" said the two younger teens, who resumed kissing.

"Ewww! Serena, make them stop!" said Lisa and Robin. Eliot, not breaking from the kiss, turned his body and gave them the finger.

"Hey!" they said. Serena chuckled. The twins 'hmphed' and walked over to the table to get some cereal. Soon enough, the whole family was downstairs getting food. Eliot and Sarah got up from the chair, much to their disappointment, and went to get some food. Jimmy was out on the hammock reading/snoozing. Kate yelled to Serena over the noise of the Murtaugh clan talking and eating.

"I'm gonna go back home—I'll call you later!" Kate yelled, pointing to her house and then motioning a telephone to her ear. Serena nodded and stuck her thumb up. Jimmy walked in.

"Good morning, Serena!" he said, giving his wife a kiss on the cheek. She grumbled under her breath.

"Good morning, Calvin and Anne!" he said, and the two oldest raised their hands lazily and rudely, as if Jimmy was taking roll call.

"Good morning, Daniel, Becky," he nodded to the two.

"Morning pops," "What-EVER," said Daniel and Becky.

"Good morning Lisa, Robin, Kenneth," he said. The youngest of the group all raised their hands and said a polite, yet mean, "Good morning,".

"Good morning, Eli…" he began to say Eliot's name and then stopped, seeing him holding hands with Sarah under the table.

"Something wrong Father?" asked Eliot, raising an eyebrow cockily.

"Nothing, I just thought we didn't let the dog eat at the table with us," said Jimmy coldly. The whole family gasped and Jimmy continued to collect some breakfast and sat down at the head of the table. Word traveled fast around the table.

"He's going down," Anne whispered to Calvin. He nodded and passed it to Daniel.

_Later on that day_

Sarah was still with Eliot. The Bakers had basically gotten used to the fact that she was over there most of the time. Sometimes Jake and Charlotte would stop by, but they mostly hung out at Charlotte's house. Sometimes living in a family of 14 can make you nuts. Tom was the one taking it the hardest. He was between two feelings. One was sadness, because he didn't want his daughter to hate him, and the other was anger, for her going and doing something. When she came into the room he didn't know what to do, yell at her or hug her. So, this was a reason Sarah was still avoiding her own house.

The Murtaugh kids were all 'playing' in the back yard. Serena knew what they were planning but turned a blind eye to it. _He deserves whatever he gets, _she thought. Once Jimmy was gone driving to the store, the kids all assembled downstairs in Eliot's room. They dragged three mattresses down to his sitting room. Eliot, Sarah, Calvin and Anne stood at the front of the room.

"I assume you all know what you are here for," said Anne. All the kids nodded. Kenneth raised his voice.

"To bring the man down!" he said. The older kids looked at him scared. He blushed and sat back down.

"Err… nicely put, Kenneth. Yes, we are here today to bring down Jimmy Murtaugh, sometimes known as our father, mostly known as the demon that lives here. Now, we have a whole plan laid out, you will just have to help us execute it," said Calvin.

"The reason we are going to take him down is because of his behavior toward our newest couple, Eliot and Sarah," said Anne, motioning toward the younger teens that were holding hands. They blushed and looked at each other. Anne continued.

"As you all know, he's been a complete monster. We have to end this, the nice way, or the… not so nice way," she said. As she finished those words, Eliot pulled out the expo board from behind him. He handed it to Anne. She put it on the stand.

"Okay, so, you all have your respective parts in this. Okay, here's how it's gonna work…" she began.

_Later on just before Jimmy comes home_

Everyone was in their place. Jimmy soon to come home, Becky sat on the front deck reading a teen magazine, Robin and Lisa were in the sitting room looking at some encyclopedias, Daniel was on lookout, Kenneth was looking at tree moss outside, Anne and Calvin were in the kitchen making some cookies and a cake and Eliot and Sarah sat on the porch seat, making out very heavily, much to the couple's enjoyment. _Thank you for putting this into the plan, _thought Eliot.

Soon enough, Jimmy drove up in his Ferrari. He parked it right underneath the kitchen window. Daniel saw this from the top floor deck and talked into his walkie talkie.

"The bear has awoken," said Daniel in a low voice.

"It's go time, everyone," Calvin said back.

"Check," said Kenneth quietly into his walkie talkie.

"Check," said Lisa and Robin. After that, they switched off their walkie talkie.

"Check," said Eliot and Sarah, clicking theirs off and going back to making out.

"Check," said Becky, shutting hers down.

"Let's do this," said Anne to Calvin, silently crossing her fingers in her head that this would work.

_Executing the plan_

Becky was reading her magazine, very interested in an article, not 'noticing' when Jimmy arrived.

"Hey cupcake, how are you…" he began, and then saw Eliot and Sarah. Sarah's hair was (on purpose) half hanging in her braids and half out. Her hands were on the inside of his shirt, feeling around. His left hand was on her waist, pulling her closer and down so he could reach her lips, and his right pulling her neck down. His hair was also messed up and their tongues, much to Jimmy's dismay, were very visible going into the other's mouth. He sneered. He then shook his head quickly and pretended not to notice them.

"Oh, daddy, you're back!" said Becky, running over to give him a hug. Jimmy laughed half heartedly.

"I'm glad you missed me," he said, "Did the boss call about his dinner with us tonight?"

"No, he didn't. So I guess that means he's coming at 6. But anyways, I did miss you! I was reading this article about this girl who had lost her dad, and it was so sad, you know? Not being able to find him…" Becky said, pulling off a well done 'blonde valley girl bimbo' act. Jimmy nodded, very confused.

"Anyways, she says that she deals with it every day by like, doing all these cool yoga things and stuff! And then it got me thinking back to when you had those old workout tapes, and you used to do them in front of the TV. Then that triggered this little buzzer in my head that like, completely reminded me that I needed to go shoe shopping for the beginning of the school year dance! Cuz like, all the shoes are gone by the time school is about to start! So then, I was thinking that I should get a dress…" Becky said, babbling like a perfect blonde idiot would. Daniel saw her from above. _Phase one, complete, _he thought.

Jimmy was so scared of his daughter's talking that he nearly ran inside. As his back was turned she gave thumbs up to Robin and Lisa, who then quickly sat up. As the door opened they raced over to show him a certain species of frog in one of the books they were reading. He stumbled backwards and nearly fell into the kitchen, but Anne saved him. Her hands were covered in dough.

"Omigosh dad!" she said, her hands now wiping themselves on her apron. Calvin turned and noticed he hand marks on the front of his father's shirt and began wiping them with a cloth.

"Eeeewwww!" they head Becky scream from outside. Before anyone could answer, Kenneth came running in with a particularly wet and disgusting piece of moss.

"Hey, giiiiiirls! Look what I found!" Kenneth said, running over to Lisa and Robin to 'show' them the moss. They squealed and ran to their dad, trying to hide behind his legs. Kenneth went after them and chased them around his legs. Jimmy slipped a bit and grabbed the bench for support. Serena walked in and did her part.

"Oh, hi Jimmy! I didn't hear you coming home. Phew, maybe we should open a window, it's getting a bit hot in here," she said, pushing open the kitchen window. Calvin nodded to her. Serena grinned back and went over to the pot plant.

"Oh, yikes, this needs some water," she muttered, and went and got the water bucket. By now, Jimmy had freed himself from the twin terrors and was making his way over to the phone to check the messages.

"Oh, Jimmy, your boss called. He said he wasn't doing anything earlier so he was making his way over here at 5:30," Serena called over her shoulder. Jimmy's face turned white as a sheet.

"That's in 20 minutes," he said. Everyone looked at him confused.

"I DON'T HAVE TIME TO MAKE FOOD!" he yelled. Serena scoffed.

"You don't _make _the food. I do. You jut watch and like to pretend you do," she laughed. Jimmy scowled.

"Just let me get ready," said Jimmy. He walked upstairs into his bedroom.

"It's go time, Becky, get Eliot and Sarah," Anne said to Becky who was still outside. She nodded, gave thumbs up and poured the last of her glass of water on the two teens.

"Ah! Eliot!" Sarah moaned. Eliot smirked.

"Isn't it a bit early for you to be…" he began. She rolled her eyes.

"Did stop you from doing it when we were making out on your bed last night," she commented. Eliot's face turned red and Becky snickered.

"Nice one, Sarah," Becky said. Sarah grinned and ran inside. The couple flopped down on an armchair and began making out again. This was all part of the plan…

Jimmy was running up to his room. In his head he was trying to decide on which shirt to wear. He reached for doorknob to his closet and turned it. As he opened it, the light came on. He ran to the back and pulled his favorite shirt out. The kids, knowing he would try and get that one down, put honey on the hanger.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" he said.

"I'll just choose one later," he replied to his own frustration. He went to take a shower. He turned the water on and got in. He hummed a tune he heard on the radio and squirted out some shampoo. He rubbed it vigorously into his hair and then washed it off. He noticed the funny yellow color washing down the drain. He felt up to his head and realized that it was all sticky.

"HONEY!" he yelled.

"What?" Serena yelled sweetly, assuming 'honey' was her, from the other side of the door. Jimmy heard his kids snicker and then run off back downstairs.

"Eurgh!" he said, turning the water on extra hot, trying to wash out the honey from his hair. He eventually got it out, taking an extra 10 minutes. He grumbled and stepped out of the shower. He got a towel, wrapped it around himself and walked over to the mirror and wiped the steam from it. He shook the shaving can and it all oozed out from the bottom, onto his arm and shoulder. He swore under his breath and wiped it off with the washcloth. Suddenly, he smelt a powerful stench of rotting eggs. He sniffed his arm and nearly gagged. He ran back into the shower to rinse the disgusting smelling washcloth and his arm. He finally got out of the bathroom, and went to get his clothing, to find it neatly laid out. He sighed happily, thanking Serena in his head, and went to pick up his shirt. No such luck. His eyebrows knitted together and he tried to pick up his pants. Again, nothing. His eyes flashed with fury.

"They glued my clothing to my bed," he growled. He sauntered back into the closet to find something else. He found a pair of khakis and a navy blue shirt in his closet and pulled them on. He walked out of the closet and quickly pulled a comb through his hair, inspecting it very carefully before using it. He then walked down the stairs into the kitchen to await his boss's arrival.

A/N- The first half of a "bringing the man down". I hope you enjoyed. I'm working on a couple more chapters as I speak, and I'm still open to any comments on other stories. I'm updating my HM fic, Smitten Couple, tomorrow morning, when my internet is better, and I'm writing a couple songfics now. If you want, PM me a song you think would be good and a couple characters and I'll see what I can do.


	15. Bringing The Man Down, Part 2

**Disclaimer: **I do **not **own Cheaper by the Dozen. I do own my own characters, such as Mr. Boss Man. Yeah, that's his name.

**ANGELMEGAN- **I'm glad you liked the scene. I'm thinking of adding a party with both the Murtaugh family and the Baker clan.

Jimmy walked downstairs to find Robin, Lisa, Kenneth, Eliot, and much to his dismay, Sarah all watching 'School Of Rock'. Eliot and Sarah were just sitting side by side, holding hands. Jimmy growled under his breath. The movie ended just as he walked downstairs so the kids began getting up and wandering around aimlessly.

"Can we start making dinner?" the kids asked Serena. She smiled at them.

"Yeah, you can," she said, "Robin, Lisa, you're over there making the salad. Daniel and Becky, get the chickens tied and spiced, ready for the oven. Eliot, Sarah, you can help make fruit salad. Calvin and Anne, you're making the cheesecake. Kenneth, you can help me with the mashed potatoes!" she finished brightly. All the kids assembled at their stations and began cutting, chopping, stirring, mixing, beating, thwacking, or mincing certain items. Jimmy walked through the kitchen testing and tasting all the foods being made.

"Too lumpy; mash it more," he said to Kenneth, making the mashed potatoes.

"Too sour, add some orange juice," he said to Eliot who was making the sauce for the fruit salad.

"Too much spice!" he said as he fanned his mouth after trying the spices Daniel had thrown together for the chicken.

"You're not supposed taste this! It works nicely on the chicken," Becky replied, sticking her tongue out at him from behind his back. The other kids laughed.

"Too much dressing! And it's too sweet. Add some vinegar," he said to Robin and Lisa. They rolled their eyes and pretended to reach for the vinegar. As soon as he stopped looking at them and turned, they went back to adding lemon juice.

"Mmmm! Finally, something that's good!" Jimmy said, tasting some sort of batter that Calvin and Anne were working on.

"Dad, that's the whipped cream we sprayed out of the can," she said, trying to hide the laughter in her voice. His face flushed red and he just walked out of the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water on the way. He went out to the deck and looked over at the lake. He saw the Baker kids jumping off the raft, into the water. He saw some of them playing tag along the waters' edge, some of them climbing trees. He sighed and shook his head. _Does Tom even know how to manage those brats? I guess not…_ Jimmy thought as Mike went plunging down from the trees on a bungee cord. Not long after Jimmy was watching did he hear a car driving up the road. He ran inside and checked the status of the food.

"Okay, okay…" he said, supervising the food making. The fruit salad was done, sitting in the fridge. The chicken had twenty more minutes in the oven, a perfect amount of time to have a drink with his guest. The salad was sitting with its dressing by its side, ready to be poured. The mashed potatoes sat in the saucepan on the stove, keeping them warm. The only ones left in the kitchen were Serena, Anna and Calvin, making the cheesecake. The other kids were watching from the railings on the stairs.

"How's it going?" Jimmy asked seriously.

"Well, there's good news. We think he's going to make it," said Anne in a very mock serious doctor's voice. Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"How long until its ready?" he asked.

"Don't worry; we'll have it done by the end of dinner, in time for dessert," said Calvin. He was pouring flour into a cup and shaking it, sending flour every where. He coughed and waved the air around his head. He smiled as the white powdery baking substance cleared his breath area. Calvin leaned up against the island in the middle of the kitchen and looked nervously down at his boss' car, parked neatly beside his own. The boss man's car was parked directly under the open window. Jimmy thought nothing of it and looked out at his kids greeting the guest. The smiled and talked a bit before leading the boss and his wife inside.

Meanwhile, Calvin and Anne were busy baking. Calvin was going to put the flour bag away but when he turned, he hit his father, whom he promptly spilled it all on. Jimmy breathed in quickly but restrained himself.

"No…" he began, "Problem…" he continued, "Son…" he finished. Calvin looked at him funny and then realized. Jimmy wouldn't want to be disgraced in front of his boss, so that's why he wasn't yelling at Calvin.

"Sorry!" Calvin gushed as he ran for the towel.

"It's alright! Go back to baking, I'll clean myself before you can do any more damage, ya numbnut," he muttered the last part. Calvin turned back to his baking.

"Do you think its working?" Anne asked, mixing some eggs into the runny batter.

"We'll have to wait and see," Calvin said. Jimmy returned with a new shirt on, looking as stressed as ever. Calvin looked out the window and saw Daniel sitting in the pine tree across from the window. Daniel smiled at him. Calvin saluted him and gave him thumbs up. Daniel returned the gestures and went to talk in his walkie talkie.

"Ready or not, here it comes," Daniel said into his walkie talkie. He saw Kenneth, Robin and Lisa all nod towards him. Kenneth picked up a piece of gooey, slimy and murky lake weed and shoved to towards the girls. They screamed and ran inside.

"DADDDDDDDY!" they yelled, running towards the lounge area to find Jimmy. Jimmy was sitting having a nice glass of wine with his boss.

"KENNETH'S GOT A PIECE OF… SLIME!!!!!" Robin yelled while Lisa went to jump onto his chair. He quickly stood up.

"Excuse me, Mr. Baxter, sir," he said, nodding towards his boss. Mr. Baxter just smiled at Jimmy.

"Kids," Mr. Baxter said. Jimmy led Robin and Lisa out of the sitting room.

"What's wrong?" Jimmy growled.

"Kenneth was chasing us with a piece of lake goo!" Lisa said.

"Well, tell him to stop. I'm busy," Jimmy said. The front door swung open and there stood Kenneth, holding a huge wad of lake weed.

"Giiiiiiiirls!" he called. Robin and Lisa clung to their dad's legs as Kenneth was stepping inside. The girls ran to hide behind the kitchen bench and Jimmy went to get another bottle of wine from the fridge. Anne was busy making whipped cream (by hand) and dancing around the kitchen doing so. Calvin was getting some fruit ready to put on top.

"Oh boy…" he muttered. Kenneth was chasing the two girls around the bench until **SLAM! **Lisa flew straight into his leg. Jimmy stumbled for a minute and then turned. He fell into Anne, who was still whipping the cream. She screamed and her bowl popped up into the air. It landed on Calvin, who promptly jumped and threw the uncooked cheesecake out the window. RIGHT on Mr. Baxter's car. Anne put her hand to her mouth and Calvin just stood wide eyed. He leaned over to inspect the damage. _Probably wasn't a good thing Mr. Baxter's car is a topless Ferrari, _Calving thought, _It's a great thing! This worked better than we planned. _

Jimmy stood stock still until the alarm for Mr. Baxter's car went off. Mr. Baxter looked around from in the sitting room and looked over at Jimmy.

"Was that mine?" he asked.

"No!" Jimmy said. The alarm was getting louder.

"It sounds like mine. I'm going to go check on it," Mr. Baxter said.

"No! No, uh, the kids are just washing it for you! You'll have to wait for a while," Jimmy said. Mr. Baxter smiled.

"Oh, well then, I better go give them some money for it. That car was filthy!" Mr. Baxter chuckled. Jimmy's eyes got wide as he tried to stop his boss from looking at his car.

"Mr—don't go down- no, stop-," Jimmy babbled. He sighed and took a deep breath as he heard Mr. Baxter reach his car.

"WHAT HAPPENED???!?!?!" Mr. Baxter roared. He looked to the only explainable place, up, and saw the kitchen window.

"JIMMY!" Mr. Baxter yelled. Jimmy ran down the his boss' car and tried to explain.

"The cheesecake… fruit… lake goo…" Jimmy panted.

"I don't care who did it! All I care is that I don't ever have to come here again!" Mr. Baxter said. He jumped in his car and sped off. Jimmy couldn't stop staring at the driveway. He sighed and walked up the steps. He couldn't find any of the kids so he went inside. They were all setting the table with the good plates and utensils.

"It's alright kids, Mr. Baxter's gone," Jimmy said, unhappily.

"That's too bad," Becky said.

"Such a shame," Daniel said. As soon as he turn his back, they all grinned at each other.

"That being the case, could we go hang out outside?" Eliot asked.

"Why not," Jimmy said, smiling slightly. The kids grinned at each other and went outside.

"Dad, I'm so sorry this happened. I'm willing to clean his car for him," Anne said. Calvin nodded, wiping his hands on the dishtowel.

"It's okay, guys. Now scram, I know it's what you wanna do," Jimmy said. He pushed the two out the front door into the cool night air. They laughed and smiled at him. They ran over to the tree house where they arranged to meet after the deed was done. They pulled the rope three times and climbed up the ladder.

"Hey guys, glad you could make it," Eliot greeted them. The younger kids were all playing in the yard, so it was only Becky, Daniel, Sarah and Eliot. Keep in mind, this is the Murtaugh's we are talking about, so this is more like a tree mansion.

"Well, it worked," Daniel said.

"Yeah," Becky answered. They were all getting quite tired and hungry, but no one paid attention to the latter.

"Well, maybe he understands what it feels like now," Eliot said.

"Yeah, to be embarrassed in front of people," Anne said. They all nodded.

"I'm hungry," Sarah stated.

"Sucks for you then," Eliot said. Sarah grinned at him and stuck out her tongue. Kenneth, Robin and Lisa ran around the base of the tree, playing tag. Eliot scuttled across the floor over to Sarah, who was looking up at the evening star. He hugged her and put his arms around her. They leaned up against the wall while Daniel, Becky, Calvin and Anne climbed down from the tree house.

"Bye bye, lover boy," Anne teased. Eliot stuck his tongue out at her. Sarah whispered something in his ear and he laughed. She kissed him on the cheek and looked back out at the window.

"They don't get it, do they?" Sarah asked. Eliot sighed and shook his head.

"I don't think they ever will," Eliot said. Sarah sighed and leaned up against him.

"I'm bored. Let's do something fun," Sarah said. Eliot raised his eyebrows at her.

"Does making out mean fun?" he asked, excitedly.

"No," Sarah said, laughing. Eliot pouted. Sarah sighed dramatically and kissed his cheek again. He swiftly turned his head, making her kiss him on the lips.

"Cheater," Sarah said. They heard commotion from below so they climbed down the ladder. Sarah saw her mom talking with Serena.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Sarah asked, taking in Kate's expression. Eliot hopped down from the ladder and put his arm around Sarah.

"Mike's missing," she said.

A/N- I know, it's been YEARS since I updated this story. I have another chapter in the making RIGHT NOW though, so I'll post it a bit later today, most likely. Enjoy!


	16. Mike's Missing

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen.

**A/N:** I know it's taken me years to update. But, I've got some story line down now! I thank everyone for their reviews, even though I wasn't writing anymore. Just a note—in this story, Nora isn't pregnant.

xDuckyx- I'm sorry, Jimmy didn't kill him.

"Mike's missing," Kate said. Sarah's eyes completely glazed over and she couldn't hear anything more after that. She finally shook her head and looked at her mom.

"You must have said that wrong, it sounded like you said 'Mike's missing'," Sarah said. Kate's eyes were already bloodshot from crying.

"Yes, everyone's already looking for him. Charlotte and her dad came over a couple minutes ago and Dad just called the police," Kate said. Sarah sprung into action. She put her fingers in the sides of her mouth and whistled, getting everyone's attention.

"Everybody over here right now!" she yelled. Serena and Kate just looked at each other. The whole Murtaugh family assembled on the line, all except for Jimmy.

"My little brother is missing. You guys may not know him, but you know what it's like to lose a family member," Sarah said. They all nodded as she continued.

"We are going to go over to my house and find him. He's about this tall," she said, motioning to up to her chest, "with brown hair and eyes. He's also got a funny marking on his right leg," Sarah said, trying to give out as much information, hoping it would bring her baby brother back sooner. Eliot held her around her waist.

"Let's do this," she said. All the other kids, Serena and Kate all began running towards the Bakers' house, but Eliot and Sarah stayed back.

"Let's go get my dad," Eliot said. Sarah nodded. They walked inside quickly and found Jimmy eating chips on the couch.

"Dad, Sarah's brother is missing and we need you to help," Eliot said.

"Do I look like I care?" Jimmy sneered.

"Did you not hear me? Her BROTHER is missing!" Eliot said.

"Did you not hear me? I don't CARE!" Jimmy yelled. Sarah stomped up to him and slapped him on the face. She then ran outside to join her family. Eliot walked up to his father.

"I thought you said you were going to change," Eliot spat. Eliot glared at his father and ran out the door. He walked down the steps and pulled Sarah up from where she was sitting. It was clear she had been crying.

"Come on, we don't need an asshole like him," Eliot said, wiping her tears. The two began running towards Sarah's house.

As they arrived, they saw two cop cars, 4 cops, Charlotte and her father, the Murtaugh clan and the rest of the Baker family.

"He's about this tall, with brown hair and eyes," Tom said, motioning to a little over his waist. The cop he was talking to nodded and jotted something down on his pad.

"He's also got a funny birthmark on the back of his right leg," Tom said. The cop nodded and wrote something more down.

"That's all we need. If you see anything, let us know. We're going to look in the surrounding area," the policeman said. Tom nodded.

"Thank you," Tom said.

"Everybody listen up!" Sarah said. She climbed into the back of Charlotte's dad's pick up truck. Everyone turned to look at her.

"We don't have enough time to wander around aimlessly. Charlie, Lorraine and Henry, you guys go get all the flashlights and lanterns from our camping supplies you can," Sarah said. They nodded and ran inside.

"Jessica, Kim and Mark, you guys go get everybody a jacket," Sarah instructed. They whizzed inside to find some sweaters for everyone.

"Mom, Dad, Nora, Bud, Serena and Luke (Charlotte's dad), you guys organize where we're looking," Sarah said. The grown ups nodded to her and began talking to each other.

"Eliot, Jake, Charlotte and I are gonna go help people get things," Sarah said. Eliot nodded and Jake and Charlotte followed as Sarah led Eliot into the kitchen.

"How are we doing on flashlights?" Sarah asked.

"Well, we've got about 23 so far, in total," Lorraine said. Henry and Charlie were feverishly pulling out old batteries and replacing them with new ones.

"Done," they said. They all grabbed an armload and put them in a laundry basket on the steps outside. They went back in to help look for jackets.

So far, Kim looked like a walking coat rack. Lorraine sighed and grabbed her sweater quickly from the top. She threw jackets out to everyone and they pulled them over their heads.

"Eliot, you can wear one of Jake's, and Charlotte, Sarah will lend you one," Charlie said. Sarah quickly found one of hers and Jake's jackets and threw them to Charlotte and Eliot. They pulled them on and everyone walked downstairs. On the way out, they all grabbed a flashlight.

"Over here, guys," Kate called. All the kids ran towards Kate and waited for further instruction. Sarah quickly distributed flashlights to the Murtaugh's.

"We're going to split you up into teams. Each team is to have a watch between them so they can tell the time, and a walkie talkie. Only use it if you've find Mike or if you are stuck. Now, the police said it's going to get cold, so if you find Mike, be sure to put him in a jacket or two," Kate instructed. Everyone nodded.

"Nora, Mark, Daniel and Henry, you go look over by the Murtaugh's house. Knock on the doors to see if anyone has seen Mike," Kate said. Sarah handed Nora a walkie talkie. The three hurried off over to the Murtaugh's house.

"Kim, Becky and Lorraine, you guys are gonna go look out by the road a bit more," Kate said. Eliot tossed Lorraine a walkie talkie. They nodded and took off towards their driveway at a furious pace.

"Nigel, Kyle, Robin, Lisa and Tom, you guys are gonna look around the house, inside and out," Kate said. Tom looked at her funny.

"Well, I need to organize all this, and someone has to be inside if the phone rings," Kate explained. Tom nodded, grabbed the walkie talkie Sarah was holding out for him and took his youngest and the Murtaugh twins inside.

"Kenneth, Calvin, Bud, you guys go look into that side of the forest," Kate said, pointing to her left, while Jake handed Bud a walkie talkie. They turned on their flashlights and left.

"Serena and Charlie, you guys are gonna go over to the boat club and country club to see if he's there," Kate said. Serena took the walkie talkie Charlotte was holding and turned to go down the pathway.

"Jessica, Luke and Anne, you guys are gonna go look down by the river. Be sure to check the tree house when you go along," Kate said. Sarah handed them a walkie talkie and they nodded and ran off.

"Sarah, Jake, Eliot and Charlotte, you guys are gonna go look over in that side of the forest," Kate said, pointing to her right.

"I'm going to stay here for now. If the police have anything, I need to be here. You guy's will be fine," Kate said, answering all their questions, except for Sarah's.

"When did you find he was gone?" Sarah asked. Kate looked at her daughter.

"We were getting dinner ready, and I called everyone to come and set the table. Everyone but Mike and Mark showed up, so I assumed they were just playing outside or something. I called for them again but only Mark came into the kitchen. I asked him where Mike was and he said he had no clue. We yelled and called for him but we couldn't find him. The police said it could have been a kidnapper or Mike could have just gotten lost in the woods," Kate said quickly, trying to hide the shakiness in her voice. Sarah nodded, gave her mother a quick hug and then ran off with everyone else to look for Mike.

"It's really dark in here," Eliot commented.

"Yeah," Charlotte chimed in

"What ever the lighting is, we need to find him," Jake joked.

"It's not funny," Sarah said.

"I'm just trying to lighten the mood," Jake said.

"Hey, guys, I think I found something!" Eliot yelled. They all ran to Eliot's voice. He was on the ground, looking at something. They all shined their lights on it. Eliot picked up a piece of rope with a hook on the end.

"Check the end," Sarah gulped. On the end, written neatly in a Sharpie marker, were the initials 'MB'.

"It's his," Sarah said.

"It could have been from a long time ago," Jake said. They were quite deep into the woods now, and finding Mike in there would be quite hard. Sarah sighed and pressed the talk button on the walkie talkie.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" she asked.

"I'm here," Kate said.

"It's Sarah. We found a piece of Mike's roping equipment. It looks kinda old, but he hasn't gotten any new stuff lately," Sarah said. She waited for a response.

"That's good. Keep on looking around there. Keep the rope. Actually, do you have something to mark where you found it?" Kate asked. They all felt around in their pockets until Charlotte said something.

"Ah ha!" she said, pulling out a piece of white chalk.

"Yeah, we've got a piece of chalk. We'll mark the tree and keep the rope piece," Sarah said as Charlotte drew an X on the tree stump.

"That's good. Well, nothing's happened here. Has anyone else found anything?" Kate asked everyone else.

"Nope," Luke said, "Nothing's down by the river. We're gonna look a bit more upstream," he said.

"That sounds good," Kate said.

"We can't find anything," Lorraine said.

"Keep looking," Kate instructed.

"Sure thing," Lorraine said. Sarah could tell she was trying to keep herself from crying.

"A couple people are helping us look from the clubs," Serena said.

"How many more people?" Kate asked.

"Well, the manager, the staff and the guests," Serena said, "So that goes to about… 20 more people," Serena said. Kate could tell she was smiling.

"That's good. They know where our house is then?" Kate asked.

"Yup," Serena said.

"Nothing here," Kate heard Kenneth say.

"We've got a bunch more people helping us since we knocked on the doors," Nora said.

"Like 2 dozen!" Mark butted in.

"Sounds good, everyone. Keep it up. Tell us if you find anything," Kate said.

Sarah, Eliot, Jake and Charlotte went back to their looking. Jake scurried up a tree he once saw Mike climbing but found nothing. He shined his light down on the forest and saw something move.

"Mike? Mike!" Jake yelled. He quickly scrambled down the tree and ran towards where he had seen the movement. He stopped short and realized how stupid he looked. There, before him, was a cute little bunny rabbit.

"Curse you," Jake said. Eliot laughed at him and Charlotte giggled. Sarah just looked at him with pure glee.

"You know, you're good at this whole 'lightening the mood' thing," Sarah grinned. Suddenly, they heard a big rustling to the side of them. Sarah spun around and saw nothing. They all shined their flashlights and saw something that they had been looking for all day; Michael Lucas Baker.

"Mike!" they all yelled. Mike looked horrible; his hair was messy, his face was covered in dirt and his clothes were all ripped.

"What happened?" Sarah asked. She unzipped her polartech sweater and zipped it up around him. Jake pulled off his sweatshirt and put it over Mike's head. Mike put his arms through the arm holes and relaxed a bit.

"Never mind that. Jake, hand me the walkie talkie," Sarah said. Jake handed it to her and she pressed the talk button.

"We found him. He's awake and talking, but he looks like he hit his head. His wrist is a bit funny looking as well," Sarah said.

"Thank God!" Kate said, "You can stop looking now! We've found him! Lorraine, you find the police and tell them that. Everybody, come on back, including everyone who joined us to help!" Kate yelled.

"We're gonna bring him in," Sarah said.

"Just be careful. You don't know what happened to him," Kate said.

"We will be careful, mom. We'll see you in a few minutes," Sarah said.

"Okay, sweetie," Kate said.

"Okay guys, let's get him up. Mike, does anything hurt?" Sarah asked. Mike nodded.

"My wrist hurts," he moaned. Sarah looked at it carefully.

"Charlotte, do you still have the Ace bandage?" Sarah asked her. Charlotte, for some reason, had one earlier that day.

"Yeah," Charlotte said. She handed it to Sarah, who quickly began wrapping Mike's wrist up so it couldn't move.

"Hand me that stick," Sarah said, pointing to Eliot's feet. He picked up a strong stick about 6 inches long and handed it to her. She put it against his wrist and wrapped the bandage around it so his wrist was straight.

"Let's get him back home," Sarah said. Sarah stood Mike up and Jake grabbed around Mike's neck and leg on one side. Eliot did the same on Mike's other side and they acted as a sort of chair carrying him through the woods. Sarah was in front, shining two flashlights and Charlotte was in back, using the other two.

"Duck," Sarah said as she found a low tree branch. Eliot and Jake lowered Mike and eased under the tree. Eliot tripped but held onto Mike. Eliot ended up on the ground while Mike was still being held in the air.

"Sarah, help me!" Eliot said. His foot was caught between a log and a fallen tree branch, and he was still holding Mike. Charlotte lifted Mike and helped Jake carry him to a clear spot where they could sit. Sarah tried moving the log but it wouldn't move.

"Jake, come grab the tree branch!" she said. Jake ran over and got ready to lift it.

"On the count of three, you lift the branch and I'll lift the log. 1, 2, 3!" Sarah said. Jake pulled the log and Sarah lifted branch, but not enough. Eliot slipped his foot out just enough and found it got stuck again.

"Owwww!" he cried. Trying to put it back the way it was before, he twisted it.

"OUCH!" he yelled.

"We're trying!" Sarah said calmly. She and Jake lifted the branch and Eliot slid his foot out. He grabbed it and plopped down onto a log.

"It hurts," he said. Sarah sat down next to him. She rolled up his pant leg and looked at it.

"It looks like a sprain, but I could be wrong. Charlotte, Jake, can you carry Mike?" Sarah asked. They nodded.

"No problem," they said, picking Mike up.

"Hop on," Sarah said. Eliot rose and eyebrow at her.

"Oh come on! Just get on my back and we can get out of here," Sarah said. Eliot sighed and jumped on Sarah's back. Sarah handed him her two flashlights and he led the way for them.

"You know, it's really supposed to be the other way around," Eliot whispered in her ear, making her shudder. She stumbled and then caught herself.

"You okay?" Jake asked her. Eliot smirked.

"Fine," she grumbled. Finally, they came to the forest's edge. They began walking faster and faster towards the house.

"They're coming!" Kenneth yelled. Kate, Tom, Serena and Nora all rushed towards Mike. Bud and Charlie were left trying to hold back the other kids.

"Honey, can you hear me?" Kate asked, stroking Mike's cheek. Mike stirred slightly but didn't move. Kate and Tom moved him over to the side to look at him while Serena and Nora looked over Eliot.

"So what happened exactly?" Serena asked, pulling Eliot's shoe off.

"Well, he and Jake were carrying Mike and he tripped. His foot got stuck between a log and a tree branch. We tried moving them both and he just got his foot stuck more, then he twisted it," Sarah explained quickly. Nora looked at it.

"Well, it's just a minor sprain," Nora said. She looked at Kim and Jessica who were listening in.

"You know the drill," she sighed. Kim and Jessica nodded and ran inside. They came out again with a glass of water, a plastic bag of ice, a couple Tylenols and another Ace bandage.

"Take this," Nora said, holding out the pills and the water. Eliot threw the Tylenol in his mouth and took a big drink of water. He winced as Nora put the ice on his swollen ankle.

"Ow," he said. Sarah took his hand and smiled at him. He squeezed her hand till it was white, but she didn't complain. She moved his hair out of his eyes and smiled happily at him.

"I'm gonna go see how Mike is, okay?" Sarah asked him. Eliot nodded and she went over to the crowd of people surrounding Mike. Sarah looked around and saw many people she had seen around the lake. The club manager, the staff, neighbors, friends and even tourists had joined them to search for Mike. She pushed through and looked at him. They had unraveled him from all the clothing, and he looked worse than ever. His face was scratched, his stomach was bruised and his head had an odd bump on it.

"Is he okay?" Sarah asked feverishly.

"We called an ambulance," Tom said, as if that answered the question.

"What happened?" Sarah asked.

"Well, in a nutshell, Mike was climbing a tree with his roping equipment and he fell. He was connecting the latch to a branch up top and then it snapped. He fell down, hitting branches on the way. He was cold so he went and hid in a hollowed out log for a while, and when he woke up it was too dark to find his way home," Kate said.

"So the head bump is from the fall?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah. I saw you bandaged up his wrist with the stick. Good call," Tom said. Sarah smiled but had to tear herself away from the sight of her broken brother. Serena and Nora were helping Eliot into the Bakers' sitting room so he could rest. All the other people who had helped were thanked earlier by Kate and Tom, so they were all heading home. Sarah followed Nora inside and plopped down on the couch next to Eliot.

"What's your conclusion, Dr. McNulty?" Sarah asked Nora. Instead of pursuing her career in real estate, she went to medical school and was now a certified doctor.

"Well, I'd say the sprain is in the lower ankle, making it hard for him to walk. Crutches will be a necessity for a couple days at least, icing and keeping it elevated is important as well. I'm pretty sure he'll be able to swim, but don't run," Nora said. Eliot threw his head back and sighed.

"Why me?" he asked. Sarah squeezed his shoulder and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I wouldn't be saying that. While you may need bed rest for a couple days, you have a lovely girlfriend to keep your company," Serena said. Eliot grinned and kissed Sarah on the lips.

"Well, I'm gonna go find the old crutches," Nora announced, hoping that Serena would catch on.

"I'll help you look," Serena said quickly. Both Sarah and Eliot knew the older ladies were trying to help them be alone.

"Are you gonna be alright?" Sarah asked him.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I will be," Eliot said.

"I'm more worried about Mike. Mike! Oh my god, he was trucked away in the ambulance. Hurry up with those crutches, Nora! We're going to the hospital!" Sarah said. Nora and Serena raced down the stairs, each holding a crutch. They gave them to Eliot and it took him a few minutes to get used to them.

"Screw it," Nora said. She motioned for Serena to come forward. Nora and Serena carried Eliot out to the car just as he and Jake had done for Mike.

They raced to the hospital and found Kate, Tom, Calvin, Charlie, Bud, Anne, Daniel, Henry, Becky, Lorraine, Robin, Lisa, Kim, Jessica, Mark, Kenneth, Nigel, Kyle, Charlotte and Luke all waiting for Mike. Nora and Sarah helped Eliot hobble in and sit down on a chair. Serena went to converse with Kate.

Finally, after about 20 minutes of waiting, a doctor came out. Everyone looked up at him.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Kelly," he said. He looked at Jake, who had a mischievous look on his face.

"If you make fun of my name, you will need his crutches to get home," Dr. Kelly joked, pointing to Eliot. Jake and Dr. Kelly were long time buddies; during the summer, Jake was known around the lake for 'breaking himself', as he called it. Jake stuck his tongue out at the doctor.

"Well, Mike isn't so good right now. He's slipped into unconsciousness, and he's very weak. He hasn't really responded to anything we've done so far. If it continues, we might have to put him in a drug induced coma. Fortunately, the gashes on his stomach weren't that bad. They had to be stitched up and that will cause scarring, but knowing him, he'll like that. He had a minor concussion and bruised a couple ribs. His wrist on the other hand, is not so fine. He fractured it in two places, and he's gonna have to have it in a cast for several weeks, and after that in a brace. If you hadn't bandaged it with the stick, it would have most likely broken in more than one place," Dr. Kelly said. Kate looked around at the crowd of kids.

"Oh, it wasn't me who wrapped it. Sarah here found him and figured it out," Kate said as Sarah stood beside her mother.

"Well, you did the right thing. He would have had to have surgery if you didn't," Dr. Kelly said.

"Wow," Sarah said. Kate smiled very slightly.

"Can we see him now?" Kate asked. The doctor agreed and led Tom and Kate towards Mike's room. They opened the door and Kate's eyes immediately began to water.

"Oh, Mikey," she said, rushing to his bedside. Tom was still in shock. Mike was lying on the bed, his face flushed white. He had an IV going into his wrist and his arm was in a sling. He was sleeping with a worried expression on his face.

"My little boy…" Kate said, silent tears flowing down her cheeks. Someone so young, so carefree, suddenly had no say in what happened…

Tom was still standing by the door. He walked towards his son and looked at him.

"Mike…" he said. Kate finished talking to Mike and kissed his forehead. She smiled at her husband and walked out.

"Mike, you gotta pull through this. I know I've been a lousy father to you this summer. I know nothing's been fair. I noticed it all and just let it slip… and before I knew it this happened. If I had just paid attention… Mike, you gotta wake up from this. Everyone needs you. Nigel and Kyle need you, Mark needs you, and Jake and Sarah won't have anyone to go skateboarding with if you're gone. Kim and Jessica won't have any test subjects if you're not there. Charlie won't have anyone to teach football to. We all need you. Lorraine and Henry need you to brighten their mornings, and Nora and Bud wouldn't smile. And I need you, Mike. Without you, we'd be 13. And 13 is unlucky," Tom said, tears now rolling down his face. He grabbed Mike's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I'm not going to let you go," he said. He wiped his eyes and let go of Mike's hand. He turned and slowly walked out of the room. He came back into the waiting room to find everyone in a group. Sarah and Eliot were closest to the door.

"Can we go in now?" Sarah asked over her shoulder to one of the nurses.

"Of course dear, just be very quiet," the nurse said kindly. Sarah nodded and walked into the room. She gasped as she saw Mike's small figure lying in bed. Eliot hobbled over, grabbed her hand and held it tight. She walked over to his bedside.

"What did you do to deserve this?" she asked. She started crying as she saw all the bruises and cuts on him.

"What did he do wrong?" Sarah sobbed. Eliot held her around her waist, his head resting on her shoulder.

"Mike… you gotta wake up. You can't leave us. You remember how hectic it was when Aunt Sylvia died? With you it would be ten times worse. Nothing would get done. Nobody would smile or laugh, and we definetly couldn't come back here. When we get back from this stupid old hospital, I'll show you all my secret hide outs. Eliot has a tree house and we can watch birds. I'll do anything, just don't go," Sarah cried. She turned to Eliot and cried into his shirt.

"It's alright, babe," Eliot said. Sarah looked up at him.

"Really?" she asked.

"I promise," he said.

A/N- Okay, so this makes up for the really short chapter I just posted! Its 8 pages long on Microsoft word. Wow. Anyways, it's like 12 midnight and I have a test tomorrow. Please review me your thoughts!


	17. Important Authors Note

Dear readers,

I know, another author's note. You're probably really pissed at me by now.

I'm so sorry for not updating. But I kind of felt like the story was losing plot. I look back and see a lot of chapters that don't really have much impact on the story at all. Also, I was losing the faint ideas of what each character was like. The last time I watched CBTD2 was when I was 10. BUT, luckily, someone posted it on YouTube! So I should be back to writing in no time.

I 'cleaned' my computer off before school started—got rid of all my old documents- including all the stuff! I had about half a chapter in the making, but I'll have to restart that. Oh well. Feel free to tell me what you think of the story so far. Be sure to check out some of the other fics, especially the newly updated 'You're Gonna Be'. THANKS!!

Lots of love,

Anna


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